THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE 


MISSISSIPPI 


VALLEY, 


PREHISTORIC  EVENTS: 

GIVING  AN 

ACCOUNT    OF    THE    ORIGINAL    FORMATION    AND    EARLY 

CONDITION    OF    THE    GREAT    VALLEY:    OF    ITS 

VEGETABLE  AND  ANIMAL  LIFE :   OF  ITS  FIRST 

INHABITANTS.  THE    MOUND    BUILDERS. 

ITS    MINERAL    TREASURES 

AND  AGRICULTURAL 

DEVELOPMENTS. 

ALL  FROM  AUTHENTIC  SOURCES. 


By  C.  B.  walker. 


I 

R.    T.    ROOT,    PUBLISHER. 
BURLINGTON,  IOWA. 

1881. 


Bntered  for  Copyright  in  1878,  K.  T.  Root.    "  All  rigbte  reserved." 


18-SI 


PREFACE. 


The  object  of  this  book  is  to  supply  the  means  of  ac- 
quiring a  clear  idea  of  the  Origin,  Extent,  Resources,  and 
Development  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  No  work  before  the 
public  embraces  this  information. 

Can  a  subject  apparently  so  familiar  in  its  general  features 
as  the  development  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  be 
clothed  with  fresh  intei'est?  A  brilliant  and  durable  pros- 
perity must  have  an  extraoidinary  cause  ;  and  a  region  that 
has  reacted  with  such  happy  effect  on  the  character  and 
destinies  of  a  great  nation  must  be  worthy  of  close  study. 
That  study  will  show  that  the  Valley  is  only  beginning  to 
make  itself  felt  in  the  country  and  the  world,  that  its  natural 
advantages  are  wholly  unequalcd  l)y  any  section  of  the  globe, 
and  that  its  People  and  Institutions  are  equally  superior. 

Scientific  studies  on  its  original  formation  have  been 
principally  confined  to  learned  books.  Presented  in  a  con- 
densed and  popular  form,  they  will  be  found  of  fascinating 
intei'est ;  while  a  complete  view  of  its  surface  features,  its 
Vast  area,  its  variety  of  climate  and  soil,  its  agricultural  and 
mineral  resources,  its  rivers,  lakes,  and  plains,  and  wide  ex- 
panding rim,  with  the  peculiar  course  and  significance  of 
its  human  history,  show  it  to  be  the  grandest  and  most 
desirable  reirion  in  the  world.  It  is  to  be  a  mi<rhtv  element 
in  a  wonderful  Future.  The  works  of  the  Mound  Builders, 
before  authentic  history  began,  furnish  evidence  that  it  was 

(3) 


fV;363071 


4r  P  K  K  !■'  A  C  E  . 

even  then  the  iil)otle  of  a  numerous  and  pi'osperous  pcoijle, 
und  nourislied  one  of  the  Primitive  Civilizations  of  the  world.  • 
The  publisher  feels  justified  in  saying  that  in  all  the  range 
of  English  literature  no  publication  can  be  found  embod3'ing 
so  many  valuable  and  interesting  facts,  collected  from  reli- 
able scientific  investigators  and  from  the  remains  of  an- 
tiquity, presented  in  a  manner  so  pleasing,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  free  from  drv  and  tedious  detailu.  It  can  not  fail  to 
please  all  friends  of  literature  and  science. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Within  the  last  half  century  the  world  has  been  passing 
through  changes  of  a  new  and  striking  kind.  Many  ten- 
dencies that  had  been  long  acquiring  strength  in  secret,  have 
suddenly  come  to  the  surface  and  taken  control  of  life  and 
thought ;  directness  and  force,  leading  to  results  of  world- 
wide importance  such  as  no  previous  period  could  show, 
have  become  characteristic  of  most  displays  of  energy  in 
practical  fields,  and  made  the  general  situation  for  mankind 
at  large  extremely  different.  It  reminds  us  of  the  flowering 
time  of  the  plant  when  new  parts  are  suddenly  unfolded, 
new  purposes  and  powers  revealed,  and  all  its  vital  enei'gies 
concentrated  on  the  final  work  of  maturing  the  fruit. 

Science  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  tiiis  suddenly  quick- 
ened progress.  It  has  learned  to  make  its  studies  at  once 
minute,  comprehensive,  and  accurate.  By  carefully  ex- 
amining every  particular,  putting  all  the  facts  together  to 
learn  the  significance  of  the  whole,  and  tlien  returning  to  a 
consideration  of  the  relation  of  the  parts  to  the  general 
result,  it  seems  to  lay  bare  the  secrets  of  nature.  There  are 
few  things  which  it  appears  capable  of  concealing  from  an 
inquiry  so  searching,  and  the  practical  and  the  mental 
worlds  seem  to  share  about  equally  in  the  grand  discoveries. 
The  earth  and  the  history  of  man  have  acquired  a  new 
meaning,  and  are  invested  with  greater  interest. 

Tracing  effects  back  to  causes,  science  finds  conclusive 
proof  of  what  before  could  only  be  dimly  suspected,  that 


(6) 


b  I  N  X  K  O  !>  U  C  T  I  O  N  . 

all  things  are  bound  together  in  a,  true  unity  ;  that  the  solid 
earth  has  passed  through  a  succession  of  changes  as  orderly 
as  the  stages  of  growth  in  a  plant  or  an  animal,  each  change 
contributing  to  the  general  advance  toward  a  foreseen  end. 
It  is  continually  finding  new  evidence  that  the  earth  was 
fitted  up  with  reference  to  human  history ;  and  history  is 
found  to  show  more  clearly  the  more  carefully  it  is  studied, 
that  it  has  been  guided  with  reference  to  the  .structure  and 
varying  resources  of  different  regions  of  the  earth. 

The  physical  structure  of  Europe  has  exerted  immense 
influence  on  civilization,  ancient  and  modern  ;  the  wonderful 
effect  of  the  peculiar  resources  and  position  of  England 
on  its  people  and  the  world  is  well  known.  The  American 
continent  as  a  whole,  the  transfer  of  European  institutions  to 
it  and  their  subsequent  re-action  on  development  in  Europe, 
also  illustrate  this  law.  The  Mississippi  Valley  is  in  itself 
a  case  strongly  in  point,  and  in  some  peculiar  ways. 

Its  grand  outlines  were  drawn  in  the  earliest  geological 
times  ;  it  was  constructed  with  great  simplicity  throughout 
its  general  surface,  but  very  elaborately  on  its  borders, 
where  all  the  resources  of  volcanic  force,  of  heat  and  chemi- 
cal activity  were  taxed  to  enrich  it  with  various  treasures  ; 
glaciers  of  almost  continental  magnitude  were  employed  to 
provide  it  with  a  rich,  deep  soil  ;  it  has  an  unrivaled  loca- 
tion and  its  system  of  water-ways  gives  it  a  magnificent 
unity.  Nature  was  lavish  of  her  best,  and  did  not  change 
her  uiuod  from  first  to  last. 

It  is  interesting  and  significant  to  note  how  carefully  the 
course  of  human  history  was  guided  to  preserve  this  fortu- 
nate Valley  from  permanent  occupation  by  any  people  whose 
genius  and  stage  of  development  rendered  them  unfit  to  be 
its  heirs.  The  primitive  civilization  of  the  Mound  Builders 
was  broken  up  before  it  became  too  strong,  being,  probably, 
more  fully  developed  in  Central  America  and  Mexico  ;  the 


INTRODUCTION.  T 

Indians  were  no  true  owners  since  they  sought  little  but  its 
game  and  wild  fruits,  and  soon  gave  way  to  a  superior  race  ; 
the  Spaniards  flitted  across  the  Lower  Valley  or  along  its 
coasts,  and  disappeared,  overwhelmed  in  the  misfortunes 
produced  by  their  own  violence  ;  the  French  soldier  or 
priest  was  soon  lost  to  view  under  the  forests,  or  maintained 
a  precarious  and  uninfluential  foothold  at  a  few  points  along 
the  rivers  ;  and  the  Spanish,  French,  and  English  govern- 
ments intrigued  in  vain  with  Indians  and  colonists  to  estab- 
lish their  control  over  it  in  later  years. 

But  there  was  a  people  to  whom  the  Valley  took  kindly, 
among  whom  were  the  germs  of  thought  and  character 
which  could  produce  the  best  institutions  and  make  the 
wisest  use  of  its  great  resources.  They  wandered  across 
the  eastern  mountains,  under  the  friendly  shelter  of  the  tall 
forests,  and  felt  themselves  at  home.  Though  the  Indian 
swung  his  tomahawk  and  raised  the  war-whoop,  nature 
smiled  on  them.  They  had  no  thought  of  retreat,  though 
the  settler  must  be  warrior  as  well  as  farmer  for  almost  a 
generation.  The  trees  fell  before  his  axe,  and  gradually  the 
grain  fields  waved  green  and  gold  in  the  summer  breeze — 
rough  homes  of  peace  and  plenty  multiplied  over  the  whole 
vast  region  ;  the  rudeness  and  vices  of  the  border  soon  gave 
place  to  the  well-settled  order  of  old  communities  ;  while 
the  freeman  found  himself  nowhere  so  free,  the  business 
man  was  nowhere  so  prosperous,  and  the  State,  the  school, 
the  church,  the  press  were  nowhere  so  flourishing. 

Here  was  ample  room  to  show  that  unrestricted  political 
freedom  does  not  necessarily  lead  to  disorder  ;  that  business 
and  trade  ai-e  governed  by  laws  of  their  own,  which  may 
correct  the  disturbances  of  personal  ambition ;  and  that  a 
loose  society,  with  little  pressure  but  its  own  choice,  may 
prefer  to  establish  and  maintain  the  best  institutions  of  the 
highest  civilization.     The  time  had  come  for  such  lessons  to 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

be  very  efltective.  Presently  Enghuid  gave  most  of  her  col- 
onies equal  tVcedotii,  aiul  the  tension  of  authority  among  the 
, nations  of  the  Old  World  has  long  been  giving  way. 

Thus  we  find  the  lirst  and  the  last  parts  of  the  Valley's 
liistory  unified.  A  thread  of  Inlention  connects  its  geology 
with  the  latest  developments  in  the  history  of  its  enterpris- 
ing inhabitants,  and  the  whole  forms  a  prophecy  of  the  fu- 
ture of  no  small  interest.  Accumulated  causes,  in  our  day, 
hurry  into  ert'ects  ;  industrial  and  commercial  forces  have 
become  immense — in  the  Valley  especially — and  are  daily 
gathering  strcMigtii,  and  the  surprises  of  the  past  will  sink 
into  insigniticance  before  those  of  the  near  future. 

The  problems  of  liberty  and  national  unity  have  been 
solved  already  and  completely  by  the  help  of  the  Valley. 
But  these  were  onlv  preliminary  (juestions.  How  shall  these 
boundless  resources  be  so  used  that  all  classes  of  the  people 
shall  be  prosperous?  How  shall  the  great  questions  of  in- 
dustry, finance,  and  commerce  be  settled  so  that  injustice 
shall  be  done  to  none?  Nature  here  furnishes  the  means  to 
any  desired  extent ;  it  is  the  true  adjustment  that  is  re- 
quired ;  the  lield  is  roomy,  the  forces  are  fairly  free  to  move. 
Notwithstanding  many  seeming  contradictions,  man  and 
nature,  here  at  least,  are  equally  well  meaning,  on  the  whole, 
and  the  harmonizing  law  of  relations  and  interests  is  active 
and  strong.  We  mav  therefore  believe  that  the  beneficent 
re-action  of  the  Great  Valley  on  the  welfare  of  the  nation 
has  only  begun. 


CON^TEISTTS. 


PART    FIRST. 

THE  ANCIENT  HISTOET  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

AND  OF  THE  MOUND  BUILDEfiS,  AS  BELATED 

BY  SCIENCE. 


True  Science  dates  from  the  Times  of  Columbus — The  difficulties  met  in 
searching  for  Sound  Principles  and  Methods — The  Caution  and  Pre- 
cision now  employed  by  men  of  Science. 

CHAPTER  I. 

HOW  NATURE  FORMED  THE  GREAT  VALLEY SS- 

The  Forces  employed  by  Nature  have  Written  their  History  in  the 
Rocks — The  Earth  originally  a  Molten  Fiery  Mass,  which  gradually 
cooled — The  immense  Forces  proceeding  from  Contraction — How 
Continents  were  outlined,  their  Parts  raised  and  Mountains  elevated 
— The  Outlining  of  the  Great  Valley. 

,  CHAPTER  II. 

HOW  ROCKS  ARE  MADE  AN'D  HOW  THEIR  "STOPy"  IS  READ.  41 

The  Four  Geological  •' Times"  and  Classes  of  Rocks — Primordial  Time 
and  Azoic  Rocks,  /.  e.,  without  Life — Palaeozoic  Rocks  containing 
Ancient  Forms  of  Life — Mesozoic  Rocks  containing  Medireval  or 
Middle  Forms  of  Life — Cenozoic  Rocks  showing  Recent  Forms  of 
Life — The  Great  Coal-making  Period — The  Great  Mountain-making 
Periods. 

Co 


10  C  O  N  T  K  N  T  S  . 

CHAPTER  in. 

HOW    NATURE    FINISHED    THE    VALLEY  AND    PREPARED    IT 

FOR  MAN 48 

The  Tertiary  Period  preceding  the  Age  of  Man — The  Q^iaternary,  or 
Recent  Period,  including  the  Age  of  Man — The  Glacial  Period,  or  the 
Age  of  Ice — The  Drift  it  formed,  and  how  it  was  distributed — The 
Champlain  Period  and  draining  of  the  Valley — The  Vegetable  Mould 
gradually  produced  completes  the  Work. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

VEGETABLE  AND  ANIMAL  LIFE ITS  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS.  55 

The  wonderful  Skill  and  Intelligence  of  the  Life  Force — How  did  it 
Originate,  and  How  was  it  Propagated?— Various  Theories — Simi- 
larities and  Differences  in  Animal  and  Vegetable  Forms  of  Life. 

CHAPTER  V. 

VEGETATION   'N  THE  VALLEY,   ANCIENT    AND    MODERN 63 

The  two  great  Classes  of  Vegetable  Forms — Vegetable  Life  probably 
preceded  Animal  Life — The  first  known  Forms — The  small  number 
of  Early  Forms  preserved — The  Forests  of  the  Coal  Period — Vege- 
tation after  the  Coal  Period — Forest  Trees  after  the  Mountains  were 
raised. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ANIMAL  LIFE  IN  THE  VALLEY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN 70 

The  Five  great  Divisions  of  Animal  Life — Most  Ancient  Forms — Life  in 
the  Palaeozoic  Rocks — Gri.dual  introduction  of  Higher  Forms — No 
Animal  with  Lungs  befo  e  the  Coal  Period — Probable  reason — Life 
after  the  Coal  Period  in  Mesozoic  Time— More  Recent  Animals — 
Man  the  Ideal  Animal. 


C  O  i\  T  E  N  T  S  .  11 

CHAPTER  VII. 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE    FIXISHEI)  VALLEY 81 

Tlrf  Great  River  and  its  Principal  Branches — The  Subordinate  Rivers  and 
their  Basins — The  Gulf  Slope — The  Prairies  and  their  Origin — Gen- 
eral Relations  within  and  without — The  Readiness  with  which  it  gives 
up  its  vast  Treasures. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE    MINERAL  TREASURES  OF  THE  VALLEY., 


The  Causes  that  produced  its  Extensive  Deposits  of  useful  Minerals — 
Every  Geological  Age  worked  well  for  the  Valley — Iron  Deposits  in 
the  Primitive  Rock — In  Later  Formations — Fine  Quality  and  favora- 
ble Distribution — Copper-bearing  Rocks — Lead  of  Lower  Silurian 
Rocks — Building  Stone — Salt  and  its  Origin — Petroleum^Extraordi- 
nary  Supply  of  Coal, 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AGRICULTURAL    POSSIBILITIES  OK  THE  VALLEY 97 

Its  Adaptations  favorable  to  a  vast  Development  of  Commerce  and  Manu- 
factures— However  great  in  other  respects,  Agriculture  will  always 
Lead — The  remarkable  Qualities  of  the  Soil — The  Climate  and  Rain- 
fall of  different  Sections — Comparison  of  Mississippi  Valley  with 
Russia  and  the  Valley  of  the  Amazon — Points  of  Superiority  to 
every  other  Region. 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE      MOUND      BUILDERS     AND     THE     FIRST     MEN     IN     THE 

VALLEY 112 

The  Champlain  Period  and  huge  Animals — Traces  of  Man  in  connection 
with  the  Mastodon — Men  in  the  Valley  as  early  as  in  Europe — Where 
did  they  come  from? — Their  Unlikeness  to  any  Old  World  Race — The 
Mounds  in  the  Yalley — The  conclusion  is  that  the  people  who  made 
them  had  an  Organized  Government  and  Institutions. 


12 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    LABORS    OF    THE    MOUND    BUILDERS 117 

The  great  number  of  the  Mounds — Mounds  classed  as  Fortifications, 
Temples,  Altars,  Sepulchres,  etc  —Careful  Study  of  them  by  Men  of 
Science — Number  and  Character  of  Military  Enclosures — Fort  Hill 
and  Fort  Ancient,  Ohio — Temple  Mounds  and  Enclosures — Works  at 
Newark.  Ohio — Cahokia  and  Seltzertown  Mounds — Altars  of  Sacri- 
fice— Burial  Mounds— Mounds  not  made  by  Indians. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


THE     CHARACTER    OF    THE    MOUND     BUILDERS    AND     THEIR 

INSTITUTIONS 133 

Their  Mental  Qualities  as  shown  by  their  Skulls — Physical  Qualities—; 
Evidences  of  a  Settled  Government — Their  numbers  and  Proof  that 
they  were  Agriculturists — Military  and  Mathematical  Knowledge — 
Their  Art  Remains  indicate  considerable  Advancement — The  great 
Difficulties  they  had  to  overcome  in  Industry  and  Art — Their  Relig- 
ious Institutions — Proofs  of  Sun  Worship — Of  Human  Sacrifices — 
Their  Priesthood — Evidences  of  Connection  witn  Central  America 
and  Mexico — Sudden  Disappearance — Conclusions. 


PART    SECOND. 


THE   INDIAN    TRIBES    AND    EUROPEAN    SETTLEMENT 
or    THE    MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    WILD    HUNTERS    OF    THE    VALLEY 155 

Indians  totally  different  from  Mound  Builders — Their  habits,  military  and 
political  organization — Comparison  of  Brain  with  Mound  Builders 
and  Europeans — Difficulty  of  accepting  Civilization,  and  its  Causes — 
Their  manly  and  childish  Qualities — Unhappy  effect  of  contact  with 
Civilized  Races — Limited  Success  of  Indian  Confederations — Their 
Origin — Inferences  from  Language — No  Traces  of  former  higher 
culture  or  mixture  of  Races. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DISCOVERY  AND    EXPLORATION    BY   THE    SPANIARDS 167 

Character  of  Spanish  Conquests  of  the  Sixteenth   Century — They  were 
Religious  Crusades — Their  Unsparing  Cruelty — DeSoto',s  Expedition. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    FRENCH    IN    NORTH    AMERICA    IN    THE    SEVENTEENTH 

CENTURY 175 

The  Modern  Tone  of  their  Missions  and  Conquests — Marquette  and 
Joliet— The  great  Vigor  and  Misfortunes  of  La  Salle — Bienville  at 
the  Mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 

(13) 


14'  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ENGLISH     EXPLORATIOVS    IN     THE    VALLEY    IN    THE    EIGH- 
TEENTH   CENTURY 183 

The  Aims  of  English  Settlers  different  from  those  of  Spanish  and 
French — English  Traders  and  Colonists — Cause  of  Indian  Hostility 
to  them — Contest  of  English  and  French  for  the  Possession  of  the 
Valley. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE    Indian's     defence    of    his     hunting     grounds 

AGAINST    THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH 191 

The  Massacre  of  the  Natchez — The  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  Successfully 
Resist  the  F"rench — English  Policy  in  the  South  Against  the  French — 
Indians  Assist  the  French  in  the  Upper  Valley — Pontiac's  Designs, 
and  their  Failure. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    INDIANS    MAKE    WAR    ON    THE    AMERICAN    PIONEERS.200 

Indian  Titles  to  the  Valley — Purchases  by  the  English  and  Colonial 
Authorities — English  Policy  during  the  Revolution  —  Courage  of 
Early  Settlers — Bloody  Contest  during  the  War  in  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee — Success  of  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clarke — Struggle  of 
Indians  for  Northwest  Territory  —  St.  Clair's  Defeat  —  Wayne's 
Victory.   . 

CHAPTER  VII. 

TECUMSEH    AND    HIS    ALLIES 209 

Fifteen  Years  Peace — Cliaracter  and  Purposes  of  Tecumseh — His  Organi- 
zation in  the  North— His  Visit  to  the  Creeks— The  War  of  iSi2— The 
Indians  in  the  English  Armies — Fearful  Massacres  North  and  South — 
Death  of  Tecumseh — Gen.  Jackson  and  the  Creeks — Final  Subjuga- 
tion of  the  Indians — Indian  Policy  and  Later  Contests. 


CONTENTS.  15 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    HEROIC    PERIOD    OF    SETTLEMENT 223 

Daniel  Boone  and  his  Companions — The  First  Settlers  in  Tennessee — 
The  Spread  of  Settlement  in  Kentucky — Incidents  of  the  War  in 
Kentucky — The  Brave  Girl — The  Young  Hero — The  Prudent  Boys — 
The  Two  Wounded  Men — The  Number  of  Settlers  in  1795. 

CHAPTER  IX. 


WHOLESALE    SETTLEMENT    UNDER     DIFFICULTIES. 


The  Two  Heroic  States — Settlement  of  Ohio  and  the  Northwest — Settle- 
ment in  the  Lower  Valley — Population  in  iSoo — The  Situation  in 
1812 — Sudden  Diffusion  of  Settlement  after  the  War — Transportatioa 
on  the  Rivers — Social  Habits  in  1S16 — Population  in  1820. 

CH.APTER   X. 

THE    STEAMBOAT    ERA 250 

The  Isolation  of  the  Valley  and  Want  of  Markets  in  Early  Times — Great 
Improvement  about  1S20  on  Introduction  of  Steamboats — Gain  of 
Settlers  in  1830 — The  Southern  Valley — Vast  Immigration  between 
1830  and  1850— Need  of  a  new  Carrying  Agent. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    RAILROAD    ERA 257 

The  Difficulty  of  Building  Railways  before  1850 — California  Gold  and  the 
Extension  of  Railroads — Transfer  of  population  from  the  East  to  the 
West — Increase  of  Population  between  1850  and  1S60. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

CONSTITUTIONAL    BEGINNINGS    BY  THE    EARLY  SETTLERS.  263 

The  Sturdy  Character  of  the  American  Colonist — Fortunate  Escape  of  the 
Valley  from  Spanish,  French  and  English  Rule — Miscarriage  of  Pro- 
prietary Companies  in  Early  Settlements — Significance  of  the  Rea- 
son^-'Articles  of  Association"  of  Wautauga  Settlement — County  Or- 
ganizations in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee — The  "State  of  Franklin" — 
Its  History  Illustrates  American  Character — Foreign  Intrigues  in  the 
Valley. 


16  C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  SVSTKM  FOR  CREATING  NEW  STATES  274 

The  "Ordinance  of  17S7" — It  becomes  a  virtual  Territorial  Constitution 
— Its  Wise  Provisions — The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  a 
Definition  of  State  and  Popular  Rights— Liberal  Interpretation  of 
Theory  in  Practice. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

STATE     CONSTITUTIONS 292 

History  of  tlie  Organization  of  each  Territory  and  State  in  the  Valley- 
Special  Features  of  each  State  Constitution  detailed — The  Features 
Common  to  all  the  States — Summary  of  Results. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

NATIONALITY  OF  EMIGRANTS  TO  THE  VALLEY,  AND  THEIR 

ORIGINAL    CHARACTER 320 

Immigrants  from  the  Atlantic  States  in  Different  Periods — Their  Enter- 
prise and  Intelligence — Immigrants  from  the  British  Isles — They  are 
Branches  from  our  own  Stock — Immigrants  from  Northern  and  Cen- 
tral Europe — The  readiness  with  which  they  "Fall  into  Line" — The 
French  Settlers  in  the  Valley. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    PIONEERS    OF    KENTUCKY    AND    TENNESSEE 325 

.Their  bold  and  hardy  Qiialities — The  combination  of  the  wily  Hunter 
and  the  practical  Farmer  in  them — The  Independence  and  self-asser- 
tion acquired — The  influence  of  these  qualities  on  the  later  History 
of  the  Valley — They  furnish  a  leading  Type  of  Character. 


CONTENTS.  IT 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

NEW    ENGLAND    IN    THE    WEST 332 

The  thoughtful,  logical  and  enterprising  character  of  the  New  England 
Type  of  Americans — Long  isolation  and  much  liardship  did  not 
injure,  but  improved  the  Type — What  the  Yankee  lo^t  and  what  he 
gained  in  the  woods  and  prairies  of  the  West — The  Undertone  thus 
given  to  Western  Habits  and  Institutions — The  later  New  Englander, 
what  he  gave  and  what  he  received. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    SOUTHERN    PLANTER    IN    THE    VALLEY 339 

The  peculiar  character  of  Pioneer  Life  in  the  Southern  Valley — The 
social  qualities  and  intelligence  promoted — The  Master,  the  Servant, 
the  Gentleman,  and  the  American  Citizen  in  the  Southern  Valley. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

FOREIGN    IMMIGRANTS    AS    AMERICAN    CITIZENS 316 

The  Foreign  elements  at  different  Periods — Tlie  readiness  with  which 
they  caught  the  American  Spirit — Liberalizing  influence  of  the  For- 
eign Element  of  the  Population — The  Fusion  or  combined  results  of 
all  these  elements  of  character  in  the  Valley. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

EDUCATIONAL    BEGINNINGS    IN    THE    VALLEY 353 

Origin  and  Progress  of  Popular  Education  in  Europe  and  the  Eastern 
States — Early  Embarrassments  to  Common  Schools  in  the  Valley — 
The  eager  interest  soon  displayed — Great  and  intelligent  develop- 
ment from  iSjO  to  iS6o— Newspapers  and  Churches. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS    TO    l86o 362 

E«riy  Manufactures   and  their  steady   increase — Progress  of  Commerce 
and   Trade  —  Agricultural    beginnings  —  Progress    limited    only   by 
capacity  of  markets — Investment  of  Capital  and  production  of  wealth 
tn  different  periods. 
3 


18 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  VALLEY    IN    lS6o 


.367 


Review  of  favorable  features  of  Valley  History  to  iS6o — The  disadvan- 
tages from  industrial  and  political  opposition  between  the  two  sec- 
tions— Neither  the  River  nor  Railway  systems  could  overcome  them — 
Influence  of  these  two  systems  on  the  Civil  War. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    CONFLICT    AND    ITS    LESSONS 374 

Military  Strategy  and  the  Railroads — Operations  on  the  Rivers — Other 
lines  of  defence  and  attack — Conquest  of  principal  lines  decides  the 
War — How  the  Valley  tends  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  whole 
country. 


PART   THIRD. 


THE  NEW  EEA  IN  THE  VALLEY. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE    SOUTHERN    VALLEY    AT    THE    CLOSE    OF    THE    WAR...38T 

The  Misfortunes  of  the  People — The  Losses  in  Capital — The  Disorganiza- 
tion of  Industry — The  South  must  begin  anew. 

CHAPTER   II. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  VALLEY  AFTER  THE  WAR 394 

Re-arrangement  of  the  Labor  System — Political  Changes — The  New 
Situation  Fairly  Established — The  New  Career  Open — How  Ameri- 
cans Manage  a  Difficulty — Constitutional  Changes 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    UPPER    VALLEY    DURING    THE    WAR 406 

Causes  of  the  Uninterrupted  Development  of  the  Upper  Valley  During 
the  War — The  East  and  West  Railroad  System — Agricultural  Ma- 
chinery, Immigration,  and  Circulation  of  Money — Its  Products  find 
Excellent  Markets — A  fine  Situation. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    NEW    STARTING    POINT 410 

The  Fresh  Impulses  Furnished  to  Enterprise — A  Hopeful  Energy  Creates 
Resources — The  Era  of  Results  Succeeds  the  Era  of  Beginnings — The 
Benefits  and  Evils  Resulting  from  the  War. 


20  C  O  N  T  K  N  T  S  , 


CHAPTER  V. 

VAST    EXTENSJON    OF    THE    UAII.WAY    SYSTEM 416 

Completion  of  the  Pacific  Railroad — Rapid  Development  of  the  Western 
Valle\ — Immense  increase  of  Business  multiplies  Shorter  Roads  and 
completes  Long  Routes — Advantages  of  the  Railroad  Furor — The 
Sudden  Reaction. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PRODUCTION  OF  MINERAI-  WEALTH  IN  THE  NEW  ERA.. .424 

Increase  of  Iron  Production  in  the  Valley — Consumption  of  Iron  and 
Steel — Progress  of  Coal  Mining — Significance  of  these  Facts — Petro- 
leum, Copper  and  Salt— Precious  Metals  on  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Border  in  1872 — Progress  and  General  Probabilities. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RAPID    GROWTH    OF    MANUFACTURES 428 

Value  of  Railroads  in  Diff'using  Industries  and  Developing  the  Capacities 
of  every  Region — Comparison  of  Earlier  and  Later  Statistics  of  Man- 
ufactures— Gre;it  Relative  Growth  in  the  Center  of  the  Country. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE     TRANSFER    OF    INDUSTRIES    TO    THE    VALLEY 432 

It  is  P.omoted  by  Ready  Access  to  Material — By  the  Nearness  of  Pur- 
cliasers — By  the  Large  Margin  of  Profit — Indications  of  Transfer  as  a 
Fact — Growth  o£  Large  Cities  in  the  Valley — Manufactures  in  the 
Eastern,  the  Central  and  the  Southeastern  Valley. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

CULTIVATED  AREAS  AND  FARM  VALUES  IN  THE  NEW  ERA. .40!! 

Gain  of  Acreage  Cultivated  from  1S60  to  1870 — Losses  in  the  South- 
Later  Gains — Facts  from  Census — Later  Values — The  Period  of  In- 
vestments and  the  Period  of  Profits. 


■P 
,ii-^ 


CONTENTS.  21 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE    GIFTS    OF    THE    SOIL AGRICULTURAL    PRODUCTION.  .444 

Grain  Production  in  Various  Years — Crops  and  Prices — Other  products 
of  the  Farm — The  Law  of  Expansion — T'le  South  and  the  Southwest. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

COMPARISON  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND  OF  OTHER  INDUSTRIES. .451 

Comparison  of  Data  for  Fifty  Years— Farm  Products  and  Mining— Agri- 
culture and  Manufactures — Foreign  Export. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

COMMERCE    OF    THE    RIVERS    AND    THE    LAKES 457 

Earlier  and  Later  Statistics — Carriage  by  Water  and  by  Railway — The 
Future  of  Water-ways. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

DIRECT    FOREIGN    COMMERCE    OF    THE    VALLEY 464 

The  Past  and  the  Present  of  Commerce — The  great  Changes  preparing — 
Atlantic  Comme:ce — Tlie  future  of  South  American  Commerce — 
The  Mississippi  Valley,  the  Isthmus  Canal  and  Pacific  Commerce. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    STIMULANTS    TO    EDUCATION    SINCE    THE    WAR 469 

X'he  Educating  Influence  of  the  War — New  demands  on  Scientific  and 
Technical  Education — Sudden  removal  of  Barriers  to  Observation- 
Educating  power  of  Intense  and  Comprehensive  Activity — Newspa- 
pers and  Libraries.  . 


22  CO  i\  T  K  NTS. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  WONDERFUL  PROGRESS  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION 474 

The  Funds  devoted  to  School  purposes  in  i860  and  1S70— Schools  In  the 
different  States— The  great  improvement  in  Methods— Normal 
Schools — Universities  and  Colleges — Significance  of  School  Systems 
in  New  States. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  GROWING    BREADTH  OF  RELATIONS    TO    THE  OUTSIDE 

WOR  LD 482 

Relations  to  the  Commerce  and  Manufactures  of  the  East — To  the  Mining 
and  Commerce  of  the  West — A  New  World  of  Relations. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE     NEW    UNITY    OF    THE    VALLEY 496 

A  Financial  Crisis,  and  the  Telegraph  and  Railway  Systems  — The  East, 
the  West  and  the  Valley  in  a  Financial  Sturm  — The  Valley  comes  to 
the  Front — It  is  a  World  in  itself — True  Centralization. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    PAST  AND    THE    PRESENT    OF    AMERICAN    HISTORY.. ..501 

Early  directions  in  Development  have  not  been  changed — Expansion  and 
Union  of  American  Types  of  Character — The  American  Idea  and 
Manhood  Suffrage — The  free  operation  of  Natural  Law  renders 
Catastrophes  impossible. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  GRAND  EXPERIMENT,  AND  EUROPEAN  DEMOCRACY...  500 

The  Old  Theory  of  Government  shown  to  be  False — Fifteen  Years  of 
European  History — American  connection  with  the  Regeneration  ot 
European  Governments — The  Law  of  Change. 


...^^. 


CONTENTS.  23 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PROPHETS    OF    EVIL 519 

The  Dark  Side  of  the  Picture— The  Serious  Dangers  of  the  Past — How 
they  Disappeared — "  Beware  of  False  Prophets." 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE    AMERICA    OF    THE    FUTURE 527 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  its  Fruits — The  Continent  Unified  in  the  Valley 
— The  Rule  of  Reason  and  Interest — Can  Intelligence  and  Science 
cease  to  Develop? — The  Securities  furnished  by  the  Past  and  the 
Present — The  Certainties  of  the  Future — Its  Probabilities. 


PART  FOUETH. 


THE  TWO  SLOPES— WEST  AND  EAST  OF  THE  VALLEY. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  is  the  Home  Farm  of  the  Anglo-American  Race — 
How  the  East  and  West  unite  to  promote  its  interests. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE — HOW    IT    WAS    FORMED 543 

The  Great  Extent  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Plateau— Age  of  the  Mountain! 
— How  Gold  and  Silver  got  there — River  Systems  and  Basins. 

CHAPTER  II. 

ARIZONA — THE    LAND    OF    PLATEAUS 551 

The  peculiar  Structure  of  Arizona — The  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado— 
The  Gila  River  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad. 

CHAPTER  III. 

PREHISTORIC    ARIZONA 557 

Its  former  Dangers  and  Romantic  Mysteries — Early  Spanish  Search 
for  Cities  and  Treasure — Extensive  Ruins  of  Houses  and  Irrigating 
Canals— A  Prehistoric  Civilization — Its  Character,  Probable  Origin 
and  Violent  Ending — Climate  of  Arizona,  Rainfall,  Soil  and  Mines. 


24  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    GREAT    DIVIDE — THE     fKINCIPAL    PLATEAU    OF    THE 

EOCKY    MOUNTAINS 576 

Structure  of  the  various  parts  of  the  Plateau  and  Mountain  Ranges— Fine 
Features  of  Montana,  Wyoming,  Colorado  and  New  Mexico— The 
Plains,  Stock  Raising,  Farming  and  Mining. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE    GREAT    BASINS 590 

The  Central  Trough  from  British  Columbia  to  the  Qulf  of  California — 
Utah  and  Upper  Columbia  Basins— River  Syitem,  Soil  and  Climate  of 
the  different  Basins. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PACIFIC  COAST — FROM  PUGET    SOUND   TO    SAN  DIEGO.  598 

Western  Washington  and  Oregon — Promising  Features  of  these  Regions 
— The  California  Valley — Southern  California  and  the  Pacific  Coast. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

AGRICULTURE    ON    THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE 607 

A  Wonderful  Soil— Its  Origin— Statistics  of  California— Irrigation  and 
its  Climatic  Effects— In  California — In  the  Interior  Basins— Western 
Oregon  and  Washington 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

SETTLEMENT     OF     THE     PACIFIC     SLOPE — THE     VIGOROUS 

CHARACTER    OF    THE    PEOPLE 626 

Spanish  Settlement— Character  of  Mexicans— Gold  Discoveries  test  the 
Character  of  Americans— A  Magnificent  History  of  Enterprise  and 
Energy. 

THE  ATLANTIC  SLOPE. 
CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    BIRTH-PLACE    OF    THE     REPUBLIC 641 

The  best  Anglo-Saxon  Traits  preserved  in  the  Colonies  of  the  Atlantic 
Coast— Geological,  Commercial  and  Agricultural  Features  of  this 
Region— A  New  and  Admirable  Race  is  produced  here— The  Wisdom 
of  the  Origmal  Slates. 


41 


CONTENTS.  2& 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE     DEVELOPMENT     AND     PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ATLANTIC 

SLOPE 655 

Early  Growth  Slow— Great  Advantages  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and 
the  Middle  Coast— New  England— The  Southern  Coast — Probable 
Future  of  each. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    EAST    AS    A    LEADER 66S 

Eminent  Featurei  of  the  Sections  Compared — Wise  Management  and  En- 
terprise preserve  the  Ascendency  of  the  East — Its  Leadership  of 
Intelligence  and  Energy,  Past,  Present  and  Future. 


PART  FIFTH. 


CANADA  AND  ENGLAND. 

What  America  owes  to  England — English  Vigor  and  Skill — The  Relations 
of  Canada  and  the  United  States. 


THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA. 
CHAPTER   I. 

THE    PEOPLE    AND    THE    GOVERNMENT 675 

Early  French  Settlement  and  History  of  Canada — The  English  Conquest 
results  in  Self-Government — The  Union  of  the  Canadas  and  Origin  of 
the  Dominion. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    RESOURCES    OF    THE    DOMINION 696 

The  Geology,  Surface  and  Soil  of  the  Dominion — Its  Extent  of  Good  I>and. 
Lumber,  Mines  and  Fisheries. 


Zb  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE    OF    THE    DOMINION 712 

Amount  of  Realized  Wealth— Progress  of  Railroads— Extent  of  Its  Mer- 
chant Marine — Probable  rate  of  Future  Growth. 


ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    BRITISH    ISLANDS    AND    THEIK    PEOPLE 721 

Their  Situation,  Surface  and  Resources — Development  of  Government  and 
Character — Great  Vigor  and  Tenacity  of  the  Race. 

CHAPTER  V. 

MODERN    ENGLAND 732 

How  England  was  led  to  her  great  Modern  Career — Growth  of  Commerce 
and  Industries  after  1815 — Great  Capacities  fully  Aroused— Her  Future. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND 742 

The  United   States  and   England   Compared— Summaries  of  Growth  in 
Realized  Wealth  in  each  by  English  Statistician* — Conclusions. 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


PART    FIEST. 


THE    ANCIENT    HISTORY   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY    AND   OF  THE 
MOUND    BUILDERS,    AS    RPiLATED    BV    SCIENCE. 

The  discoveries  of  Colunihtus,  and  of  Portuguese  mariners 
shortly  before,  opened  an  era  of  great  importance  to  Europe 
and  to  mankind.  They  lifted  the  veil  that  hid  another  world 
from  the  eyes  of  the  dawning  modern  civilization,  enlarged 
tenfold  the  field  of  adventure  and  of  business  activity,  and 
stimulated  enterprise  by  the  promise  of  brilliant  rewards. 
For  a  thousand  years  Europe  had  been  a  general  battle  field, 
whereon  fierce  passions,  towering  ambitions  and  conflicting 
interests  had  wasted  the  resources  of  church  and  state.  These 
new  openings  for  energy  gradually  relieved  the  deadly  stress 
of  conflict  between  nations  and  classes,  and  changed  destruc- 
tive forces  into  agents  of  progress  and  prosperity.  In  this 
reconstruction  of  views  and  interests,  which  was  made  slowly 
but  surely,  many  illusions  and  false  notions,  religious,  social 
and  political,  disappeared.  Mankind  seemed  now  to  come 
of  age,  so  to  speak,  and  enter,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  serious 
work  of  life. 

New  experiences  and  a  vast  multitude  of  new  facts  could 
not  all  be  harmonized  with  old  theories,  and  the  habit  of  more 
attentive  observation,  which  the  necessity  of  fresh  explana- 
tions gradually  introduced,  led  to  the  re-organization  of  the 
old  sciences  and  to  tlie  development  of  many  new  ones.    It  was 

27 


28  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  starting  point  of  truer  study  by  more  careful  investigation. 
The  world,  for  instance,  was  proved  to  be  round  by  mariners 
who  constantly  sailed  in  the  same  direction  till  they  at  length 
came  back  to  their  starting  point;  this  laid  a  solid  foundation 
for  a  true  theory  of  the  planetary  system  and  the  starry  world; 
stimulated  inquiry  into  the  laws  that  govern  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  thus  enlarged  and  corrected  the 
Science  of  Astionomy.  In  a  similar  way  every  branch  of 
knowledge  profited  by  the  great  events  of  the  Columbian  Era. 

Yet  it  took  a  lonj;  time  to  find  out  the  most  effective  and 
reliable  methods  of  study,  and  to  teach  men  not  to  draw  con- 
clusions too  hastily.  Many  difficulties  were  met  in  organiz- 
ing tliis  practical  school.  It  was  not  easy  to  throw  oflf  the 
influence  of  old  habits  and  views,  and  men  found  it  hard  to 
believe  that  those  who  had  been  revered  for  their  learning  in 
former  times  could  have  made  so  many  great  mistakes.  Tlie 
great  men  and  the  theories  of  the  past  had  become  identified 
witli  institutions  whose  influence  and  authority  seemed  to  be 
attacked  by  the  new  learning,  and  persecution  was  frequently 
added  to  the  other  embarrassments  of  the  student  of  science. 

Many  of  the  sciences  required  long  and  difficult  researches, 
and  the  observations  which  must  furnish  the  material  for  true 
theories  accumulated  facts  slowly.  The  science  of  geology 
properly  commenced  with  tlie  iiKjuiry  liow  marine  shells  could 
have  been  placed  in  the  heart  of  rocks  and  on  the  top  of  moun- 
tains. It  was  long  before  the  true  explanation  could  be  found. 
Some  rocks  did  not  contain  shells  at  all,  but  bore  the  appear- 
ance of  having  cooled  from  a  melted  state.  These  were  so 
numerous,  especially  in  some  regions,  that  it  was  believed  by 
some  that  all  rock  was  formed  in  that  way,  although  that  view 
did  not  satisfactorily  account  for  the  rocks  containing  the  shells. 
Other  regions  showed  very  few,  or  none,  of  these  fire-made 
rocks,  nearly  all  contained  the  remains  of  organic  life,  and, 
the  principal  eff'ort  being  to  account  for  them,  tlie  theory  was 
advanced   that  all  rocks  were  formed  in  water.     Much  study 


jm.- 


THE    GROWTH    OF    MODERN    SCIENCE.  29 

and  discussion  followed  before  it  was  seen  that  both  these 
theories  were  necessary  to  a  complete  explanation. 

Sometimes  it  was  necessary  that  one  science  should  reach  a 
certain  degree  of  perfection  before  it  could  shed  the  necessary 
light  on  imjwrtant  questions  of  another;  and  in  others  the 
whole  world  had  to  be  pretty  well  known  before  the  true 
theory  could  be  framed.  There  was  a  great  attraction  in  mak- 
ing fresh  discoveries,  the  interest  the  questions  raised  con- 
stantly increased,  and,  as  every  part  of  tlie  earth  became 
more  fully  known  to  the  civilized  world,  the  dark  points  were 
gradually  cleared  up.  A  theory  that  is  nearest  the  truth  will 
explain  the  largest  number  of  facts,  and,  led  on  by  increasing 
breadth  and  clearness  of  explanation,  men  of  science  slowly 
and  painfully  conquered  the  difficulties  in  their  way. 

But,  if  the  conquest  was  slow  and  painful,  it  was  also  sure, 
for  it  had  the  solid  basis  of  nature  to  rest  on.  If  they  made 
mistakes,  examined  too  hastily,  and  formed  conclusions  with- 
out the  most  mature  consideration,  the  ever  accumulating  facts 
■would  convict  them  of  error.  In  this  way  they  learned  extreme 
caution,  sought  the  most  accurate  instruments  and  metiiods  to 
aid  their  investigations,  and,  in  our  own  day,  have  become 
renowned  for  the  precise  and  patient  care  bestowed  on  their 
labors.  "Scientific  Accuracy"  implies  the  most  thorough 
study  and  the  most  ab.solute  certainty  which  the  nature  of  the 
subject  admits. 

The  glory  of  all  past  ages  pales  before  the  achievements  of 
the  scientific  world  of  our  generaticju  and  of  that  which  imme- 
diately preceded  it.  The  warriors,  the  statesmen,  the  artists 
and  the  tiiinkers  of  past  ages  a]ipear  childish  bunglers  when 
compared  with  these  broad-minded,  clear-sighted,  intellectual 
and  practi.cal  giants  of  our  time.  The  almost  miraculous 
development  of  the  industries  and  comprehensive  activities  of 
recent  years,  tlie  means  by  which  distance  and  other  obstacles 
have  been  deprived  of  their  power  to  separate,  men  and  keep 
them  in  ignorance  of  each  other,  all  come,  directly  or  indi- 


30  THK   MISSISSIl'l'I    VALLEY. 

rectly,  from  scientific  discoveries.  So  useful  lias  science 
become  to  practical  life  that  it  has  been  made,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  general  superintendent  of  the  business  undertak- 
ings, of  the  social  and  political  affairs,  and  of  the  thought  of 
the  world.  If  it  has  too  lately  received  that  high  position  to 
have  banished  false  principles  and  injurious  violation  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  of  business  and  of  association,  it  is  yet  stead- 
ily and  vigorously  working  toward  that  end,  and  can  not  well 
fail  of  ultimate  success. 

Science  has  acquired  this  great  influence  by  doing  its  work 
within  its  own  special  field  with  great  and  conscientious 
thoroughness.  It  will  take  nothing  for  granted,  it  requires 
proof;  it  shuns  no  labor  to  arrive  at  certainty,  it  will  not 
deceive  others  nor  itself,  and  declines  to  pronounce  upon  a 
theory  until  all  the  facts  have  been  sufficiently  examined  and 
reasonable  doubts  removed.  These  are  its  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. Some  of  its  teachers,  indeed,  fail  to  be  always  governed 
by  these  principles,  for  they  are  often  more  or  less  impei'fectly 
imbued  with  its  spirit,  but  their  influence  is  lost  in  proportion 
as  they  are  unable  to  sustain  their  positions  by  convincing 
proof.  Science  belongs  to  the  material  world,  the  world  of 
facts  which  are  capable  of  being  proved,  and  it  has  taught  the 
world  the  carefulness  in  receiving  such  proof  that  it  uses 
in  seeking  for  it. 

Geology  has  been  perfected  with  this  painstaking  care. 
Several  miles  of  the  original  depth  of  the  rocks  of  the  earth 
have  been  turned  up  to  the  light  of  day  by  the  immense  forces 
that  assisted  in  its  structure,  and  they  have  laid  bare,  some- 
where, nearly  every  leaf  of  its  journal  of  its  own  life  and  history. 
By  long  and  patient  study  its  alphabet  has  been  learned  and 
the  strange  journal  I'ead.  Chemistry,  Zoology,  Botany,  Physi- 
ology, Astronomy',  and  many  other  sciences  have  aided  in  its 
work,  for  they  are  all  branches  of  one  great  Science  of 
Nature.  As  the  special  energies  of  each  department  of  nature 
had  their  part  in  making  the  earth,  so  the  facts  of  each  science 


THE    DISCOVERIES    OF    SCIENCE.  31 

now  assist  in  explaining  how  it  was  made.  Not  everything  is 
known.  On  the  contrary,  study  seems  only  now  to  have  fairly 
commenced.  It  has  surveyed  the  general  field,  it  has  disci- 
plined its  workers,  organized  its  forces,  and  found  out  the  right 
way  to  use  them.  It  has  exercised  its  eye,  its  hand  and  its 
judgment  so  thoroughly  that  they  can  work  together  with 
great  rapidity  and  certainty. 

It  has  learned  that  nature  is  not  a  confused  collection  of  con- 
tradictions, but  that  the  different  parts  form  a  consistent,  well- 
proportioned  and  harmonious  whole;  that  the  laws  now  con- 
trolling its  operations  are  universal,  that  they  always  and  every- 
where produce  the  same  eti'ect  under  the  same  circumstances. 
This  unity  of  nature  enables  science  to  transpoi't  its  students 
to  distant  times  and  far  away  regions  of  the  universe.  The 
laws  of  proportion  in  the  animal  frame  are  so  well  known  that, 
witli  a  few  bones,  it  can  reconstruct  the  whole  animal,  discover 
its  habits  and  the  circumstances  that  surrounded  it  while  liv- 
ing. The  chemical  constitution  of  the  rocks  and  the  animal 
or  vegetable  remains  found  in  them,  or  absent  from  them,  re- 
veal the  condition  of  the  seas  and  the  land  during  the  period 
from  which  they  date.  Thus  science  walks  back  and  forth 
through  the  long  ages  of  the  past,  and  studies  each  period,  each 
class  of  vegetable  or  animal  life  and  the  operation  of  the  forces 
that  produced  it,  with  even  more  ease  and  certainty  than  a 
traveler  can  study  a  country  and  its  productions,  as  they  stand 
in  all  their  completeness  before  his  eyes,  at  the  present  day. 
In  some  respects  the  observer  can  get  nearer  to  the  secrets  of 
the  past  than  those  of  the  present.  Here  he  can  not  always 
go  behind  the  curtain,  but  there  the  curtain  is  drawn,  and 
he  has  a  closer  view  of  causes. 

Science  sometimes  meets  with  agents  and  methods  of  study 
that  make  the  most  important  and  wonderful  revelations.  For 
instance,  light,  as  reflected  b}'  different  objects,  was  found  to 
make  varioiis  revelations  as  to  the  nature  of  those  objects,  and 
by  this  means  a  multitude  of  facts  in  regard  to  the  constitu- 


32  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

tion  and  condition  of  the  sun,  and  other  distant  bodies,  were 
very  positively  made  out.  So  much  clear  and  precise  knowl- 
edge has  been  gained  in  the  last  fifty  years,  that  it  would  be 
presumptuous  to  undertake  to  mark  the  future  boundaries 
between  the  known  and  the  unknown,  or  perhaps  to  say  that 
«7iy  subject  awakening  the  interest  and  curiosity  of  men  will 
not  be  sufBciently  investigated  and  cleared  up  to  fully  satisfy 
that  curiosity. 

The  outlines  of  what  science  has  revealed  of  the  past  of  one 
of  the  most  important  regions  of  the  earth,  are  given  in  the 
First  Part  of  this  work.  So  far  as  we  can  discover  all  the  la- 
bors of  nature  are  directed  toward  an  ultimate  end  in  connection 
with  man.  The  Mississippi  Valley  seems  to  have  been  formed 
with  peculiar  care  on  a  broad  and  simple  plan  and  to  have 
been  supplied  with  a  variety,  abundance  and  excellence  of 
useful  materials  seen  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 

It  can  not  but  be  of  interest  to  note  how  and  when  the 
original  plan  of  the  great  Valley  was  drawn,  and  how  the 
operations  that  stored  it  with  so  many  treasures  were  con- 
ducted. Science  is  able  to  give  a  very  clear  and  connected 
history  of  this  long  process,  and  also  to  furnish  a  most  inter- 
esting tale  of  an  ancient  and  mysterious  people  of  whom 
written  history  knows  almost  nothing,  or  at  least  nothing 
definite.  The  fiicts  and  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been 
studied  and  their  meaning  learned  are  contained  in  a  multi- 
tude of  books.  The  details  must  be  sought  in  those.  It  is 
only  the  general  conclusions  that  are  here  given. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

HOW    NATUKE    FORMED    THE    GREAT    VALLEY. 

The  Book  accepted  as  a  Divine  Record  and  Tlevelation  by 
the  Jews,  and  afterwards  by  Christians,  opens  with  a  brief  and 
partial  outline  of  the  origin  of  the  earth  and  its  jtrogressive 
fitting  up  for  the  use  and  residence  of  man.  Nature  itself 
must  be  a  revelation,  if  its  narrative  can  be  read,  and  the  two 
records  should  be  in  harmony.  The  Bible  account  contains 
a  very  brief  summary,  and  leaves  wide  gaps  in  the  outline — 
touching  but  few  points.  Naturally  it  would  not  be  fully 
comprehended  until  the  outline  was  completed  and  explained 
by  a  multitude  of  details.  This  was  the  task  of  science,  and 
the  more  definite  and  unmistakal>le  its  conclusions  become, 
the  more  decisive  appears  the  agreement  between  the  two 
records. 

The  Bible  commences  with  "  the  beginning,"  when  the 
elements,  which  came  ultimately  to  their  present  state,  were 
formless,  confused,  and  utterly  "dark;"  confines  its  state- 
ments concerning  the  early  periods  chiefly  to  the  origin  and 
development  of  light,  to  the  gradual  introduction  of  plants 
and  animals,  and,  finally,  of  man.  Science  commences  with 
an  examination  of  the  finished  work — with  the  earth  as  it  is 
now — and  follows  the  process  back,  step  by  step,  to  the  time 
when  no  life  existed,  and  when  it  first  became  possible  for  the 
earth  to  be  illuminated  as  it  is  now.  It  confirms,  explains  and 
fills  up  the  Bible  outline  so  far  as  it  can  reach  positive  conclu- 
sions. It  discovers  evidences  of  a  heated  state  in  which  rocks 
and  metals  were  melted,  or  existed  only  in  the  form  of  gas  or 
vapor,  through  which  the  light  of  the  sun  could  not  pene- 
trate. The  earth  gradually  cooled,  a  crust  formed  over  the 
-3  38 


34 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


molten  mass,  the  vapors  condensed  and  fell  to  the  surface  as 
water,  and  minerals  diiiused  in  it,  much  of  which  last  at 
length  became  solid,  leaving  the  atmosphere  as  a  transparent 
gas  through  which  the  bright  sunshine  fell  on  the  solid  sur- 
face, or  the  waters,  and  in  which  a  portion  of  the  water, 
whenever  turned  to  vapor  by  heat,  floated  as  clouds,  became 
condensed  and  fell  in  the  form  of  rain. 

Astronomy  and  chemistry  aid  us  to  go  back  a  step  beyond 
even  this  state  of  fusion,  and  confirm  the  Bible  statement  that 
the  earth  was  "without  form  and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep;"  when  progress  commenced  by  "move- 
ment," or  motion,  communicated  by  some  power  to  the  dif- 
fused elements  of  matter.  Men  of  science  see  reason  to  con- 
clude that  the  material  of  the  solid  mass  of  the  earth,  as  well 
as  its  liquid  "and  gaseous  parts,  existed  then  as  thin  vapor,  the 
particles  of  matter  being  widely  separated,  thinner  and  lighter 
than  air,  and  cold  and  lifeless,  so  to  speak,  because  they  were 
not  near  enough  to  act  and  react  on  each  other.  To  introduce 
this  action  they  must  be  condensed — brought  into  contact. 
When  this  was  done  great  activity  commenced,  producing  an 
immense  development  of  heat  accompanied  by  "  light."  In 
this  state  of  lively  action  particles  of  the  same  kind  sought 
each  other,  came  together,  or  condensed,  ultimately  hardened, 
and  a  direct  process  of  fitting  up  the  surface  for  man  com- 
menced. 

So  far,  therefore,  as  the  two  records  touch  on  the  same 
points  they  mutually  confirm  each  other;  the  order  in  which 
organized  living  things  were  introduced  in  later  times  being 
substantially  the  same  in  each.  The  Bible  narrative  is  incom- 
plete, yet  remarkably  exact  as  far  as  it  goes.  The  word  "  day," 
in  the  sacred  narrative,  which  has  perplexed  so  many  and 
formerly  caused  the  conclusions  of  science  to  be  looked  upon 
with  suspicion,  is  used  in  several  senses  in  that  narrative 
itself,  and  is  now  commonly  regarded  as  presenting  no  obsta- 
cle to  the  harmony  of  the  two  records. 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    EARTH.  35 

It  is,  therefore,  believed  that  the  whole  planetary  system 
was,  at  first,  one  vast  mass  of  vapor,  which,  gradually  con- 
tracting as  it  revolved,  threw  ofl"  successive  rings  which  col- 
lected in  separate  masses  and  condensed  independently — the 
process  of  condensation  being  more  rapid  in  proportion  as  the 
masses  were  smaller.  The  vast  central  mass — the  sun — still 
remains  in  the  condition  in  which  the  earth  once  was — a  ball 
of  glowing  fire — the  other  planets  being  in  the  various  stages 
of  progress  according  to  their  size  and  rate  of  motion.  This 
is  a  theory  long  since  entertained,  and,  though  doubted  by 
some  or  considered  not  fully  proved,  it  seems  to  be  confirmed 
in  various  ways  by  the  researches  of  science. 

Heat  is  latent,  or  unperceived,  in  vapor.  It  is  developed 
by  motion — it  is  said  to  be  a,  mode  of  motion — and  it  appears 
to  be  connected  with  all  the  vast  activities  that  have  made 
the  earth  what  it  is.  The  most  violent  motion  produced,  or 
was  accompanied  by,  the  greatest  displays  of  heat.  When 
the  boiling  matter  of  the  earth  began  to  part  with  its  heat, 
it  contracted  so  as  to  occupy  less  space.  It  boiled  down, 
so  to  speak,  the  lighter  and  the  heavier  elements  separated,  the 
gases  and  the  vapors  that  were  to  form  the  atmosphere  and 
the  waters — or  to  be  gradually  returned  as  solids  at  a  later 
period — became  the  envelope  of  the  heavier  pasty  mass  at 
the  center. 

Thus  the  central  mass  thickened,  shrunk,  as  it  parted  with  its 
heat,  until  a  scum  or  crust  formed  at  the  surface.  At  first  this 
crust  was  too  hot  to  allow  the  vapor  to  condense  into  water  but 
it  continued  to  thicken  and  cool  until  a  universal  sea  covered 
it.  The  waters  were  at  first  hot  and  saturated  with  corrosive 
minerals,  which  eat  into  and  wore  down  the  surface  of  the 
hai-dened  rock,  so  that  this  was  finally  buried  under  a  thick 
layer  of  these  minute  fragments.  These  fragments  gradually 
consolidated  and  formed  the  first  or  azoic  rock — which  con- 
tained no  sign  of  life — that  was  raised  out  of  the  waters.  It 
was  this  which,  pulverized  by  the  atmosphere,  the  rain  or  the 


36  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

waves,  furnished  material  for  the  layers  of  rock  formed  in 
later  ages.  Each  age  left  in  the  rocks  formed  in  it  some  traces 
of  its  plant  and  animal  life. 

It  would  seem  that,  by  the  operation  of  some  law  as  yet 
unknown,  the  surfaces  where  the  continents  were  to  be,  har- 
dened first,  and  the  lines  that  were  to  separate  the  future  con- 
tinent and  ocean  were  drawn  at  the  very  beginning.  The 
Study  of  poast  lines,  of  mountain  chains  and  their  various 
ages,  with  the  forces  that  must  have  raised  them,  proves  a 
steady  operation  of  influences  in  the  same  direction  from  the 
beginning,  and  renders  it  quite  improbable  that  the  continents 
and  ocean  beds  have  really  ever  changed  places  to  any  great 
extent.  The  continents  and  their  immense  ranges  of  moun- 
tains were  steadily  lifted  (or  prepared  to  be  raised)  while  the 
ocean  Vjeds  were  as  steadily  depressed  until  late  in  geological 
times.  Apparently  this  result  was  largely  due  to  the  stiffen- 
ing of  the  crust  over  the  continental  areas  first.  The  melted 
rock  contracted  eight  to  twelve  per  cent  in  volume  as  it 
cooled  and  became  immovable  ;  that  which  cooled  last  would 
lie  lower  and  be  thinner  and  more  yielding  at  any  given 
period  ;  and  as  the  mass  beneath  cooled  it  shrunk,  and  the 
crust  must  settle  to  find  support.  As  it  settled  to  the  smaller 
dimensions  of  this  shrinking  ball  the  crust  must  wrinkle  and 
fold  and  produce  the  mountain  systems  and  continental 
plateaus  of  the  earth.  As  the  sea  bottoms  lay  lower  and 
yielded  to  the  descending  movement  most  readily  (being 
somewhat  thinner  because  later  formed)  they  must  find  room 
by  pressing  obliquely  up  against  the  borders  of  the  continents, 
thereby  tending  to  raise  them  as  a  whole,  as  well  as  to  fold 
them,  in  places,  into  mountain  chains. 

Accordingly,  mountains  are  usually  found  not  far  from  the 
border  of  the  continents,  are  steepest  on  the  sides  which  front 
the  sea,  from  which  the  strongest  lifting  pressure  came,  and 
it  is  found  that  the  higher  mountains  of  a  continent  border 
the  largest  ocean.     In  America,  the  Rocky  Mountains  border- 


THE    EFFECTS    OF   CONTRACTION.  37 

ing  the  wide  Pacific  have  broad  plateaus  and  high  peaks, 
while  those  near  the  narrower  Atlantic  are  more  modest  in 
all  their  proportions.  The  same  peculiarity  is  observed  on  all 
the  continents,  which  points  to  a  general  and  uniform  law  of 
elevation. 

The  almost  inconceivable  power  producing  this  elevation  is 
thus  the  result  of  the  contraction  which  steadily  follows  the 
cooling  of  the  earth,  and  possibly,  to  some  extent,  th^  chemical 
changes  and  the  force  of  gravity  which  consolidate  the  ma- 
terials of  the  rocks  so  that  they  occupy  less  and  less  space. 
Since  rocks,  in  cooling,  lose  from  eight  to  twelve  per  cent  in 
bulk,  the  surface  crust  was  obliged  by  its  weight  to  follow  the 
contraction  beneath. 

This  process  is  extremely  slow,  and  the  strain  produced  on 
all  the  surface  rocks  by  contraction  seems  to  have  had  its  long 
periods  of  accumulation  during  which  it  manifested  itself  by 
a  slow  rise  and  fall  of  the  surface  over  the  continental  regions. 
In  some  places  the  changes  of  level  were  great  and  long  con- 
tinued, in  others  slight  but  changing  more  often.  Along  the 
site  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  there  was  a  long  period  of 
slow  sinking.  Nearly  eight  miles  in  thickness  of  rock  was 
there  formed.  The  character  of  the  various  layers  showed 
that  they  were  all  formed  not  far  below  the  surface  of  the 
water — the  sinking  and  the  formation  of  rock  continuing  to  be 
about  equal  during  the  whole  period.  There  were  frequent 
changes  in  the  direction  of  the  movement  over  the  general 
surface  of  the  future  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  but  its  range 
seems  to  have  been  small,  only  about  4,000  feet  of  rock  being 
formed  in  the  Central  Valley. 

There  were  several  periods  during  which  this  force  violently 
«ased  itself  by  permanently  raising  some  part  of  the  crust 
tiigh  above  the  rest.  During  the  first  of  these  periods  of 
permanent  rising  the  Great  Valley  seems  to  have  been 
Dutliued. 

Land  was  first  made  along  the  northern  border,  and  it  is 


38 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


believed  to  liave  formed  the  oldest  of  all  the  continents.  It 
stretched  from  Labrador  southwest,  along  the  northern  rim 
of  the  Great  Lakes  to  Minnesota,  with  another  bi-anch  from 
Lake  Superior  iiortiiwest  far  toward  the  Pole.  The  eastern 
side  of  the  Valley  next  the  Atlantic  was  then  raised,  and  if 
land  near  the  Pacific  was  not  made  then  there  was,  at  least, 
a  sub-marine  ridge,  and  ever  thereafter  the  site  of  the  Valley 
remained  enclosed,  sometimes  as  an  interior  shallow  sea,  and 
at  others  as  low-lying  land.  The  surface  of  the  Valley  was 
always  the  most  stable  part  of  the  Continent. 

After  these  liftings  and  some  eftbrts  at  making  mountains 
in  a  comparatively  small  way  in  Canada  and  New  England, 
there  was  a  very  long  period  of  uneasy  movement,  during 
which  the  land  slowly  gained  on  the  water  along  the  northern 
and  eastern  border  of  the  Valley;  but  no  great  or  extensive 
elevations  were  made.  All  the  rocks  and  minerals  of  the 
Northern  and  Central  Valley  east  of  the  Mississippi  were 
made  during  this  time,  which  was  followed  by  a  great  display 
of  force.  The  Alleghany  Mountains  were  raised,  and  with 
them  probably  more  than  half,  possibly  two  thirds,  of  the 
Valley  liecame  permanently  dry  land.  This  was  a  far  greater 
display  of  force  than  any  former  elevation,  and  it  is  believed 
by  some  that  the  Alleghanies  made  the  first  great  mountain 
chain  raised  on  any  continent. 

Much  of  the  surface  of  the  Gulf  States  was  still  under  water 
and  an  arm  of  the  sea,  or  a  channel  some  hundreds  of  miles 
wide,  lay  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the  site  of  the 
future  Rocky  Mountains.  Another  period  of  com])arative 
quiet  followed;  but  still  greater  forces  were  gathering,  and 
finally,  in  the  early  part  of  modern  geological  time,  made  the 
grandest  show  of  power  the  history  of  the  earth  can  present. 
The  long  chain  of  the  Rocky  and  Andes  Mountains  was 
raised,  during  which  period  of  elevation  a  region  of  the  con- 
tinent a  thousand  miles  wide  was  lifted. into  high  plateaus, 
which  served  as  a  basis  for  many  lofty  mountain  ranges.    The 


EAISINU    OF    CONTINENTS    AND    IKJUNTAINS.  39 

western  and  sonthern  parts  of  the  Valley  were  raised  at  the 
same  time.  All  the  highest  plateaus  and  loftiest  mountain 
ranges  of  other  continents  also  date  from  this  period.  All 
this  was  accompanied  with  fearful  earthquakes,  with  immense 
activity  in  volcanoes  and  the  gushing  forth  of  vast  quantities 
of  lava  from  long  clefts  in  the  rocks  which  must  have  been 
many  miles  deep. 

This  seemed  to  have  been  the  great  and,  in  some  degree, 
definite  adjustment  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  to  what  lay 
beneath  it.  Apparently  the  surface,  or  crust  of  the  earth,  had 
become  extremely  thick  and  solid,  and  the  former  elevations 
of  land  and  mountains  had  only  partially  relieved  the  strain, 
which  continued  to  accumulate  while  the  thickness  and 
solidity  of  the  crust  also  increased,  until  the  pent-up  giant 
force  could  only  be  relieved  by  these  vast  elevations. 

There  were  frequent  changes  of  level  over  wide  regions  in 
later  times  and  there  is  much  local  movement  to  this  day  ; 
but  it  appears  to  be  chiefly  a  temporary  shifting  of  level  with- 
out any  great  world-wide  or  very  permanent  changes.  What 
is  the  present  condition  of  the  interior  of  the  earth,  is  a 
question  on  which  geologists  are  not  fully  agreed.  To  settle 
it  requires  a  comprehensiveness  of  knowledge  not  yet  acquired. 
Many  of  the  most  eminent  authorities  consider  it  probable  that 
pressure  has  so  far  overcome  the  expansive  force  of  heat  that 
the  center  of  the  glowing  mass  is  solid  and  that  a  fluid  mass 
lies  between  it  and  the  surface  crust.  The  mysterious  be- 
havior of  magnetic  forces  has  suggested  that  as  an  explana- 
tion. Others  suppose  that  there  has  never  been  such  a  sea  of 
molten  fire  beneath  the  cold  crust  as  has  been  described;  that 
pressure  and  the  cooling  process  hardened  the  surface  and  the 
interior  at  the  same  time. 

This  view  allows  the  same  degree  of  heat  in  the  interior  but 
contends  that  it  did  not  prevent  the  solidifying  process.  The 
heat  has  always  been'escaping — ascending  from  below  through 
the  colder  rocks — and  the  surface  changes — sinking  of  ocean- 


40  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

beds,  raising  of  continents  and  mountains,  and  other  displays 
of  immense  force — are  due  to  the  unequal  contraction  of  the 
cooling  rocks  lying  below  those  already  cooled,  and  to  the 
unequal  qualities  of  the  surface  rocks  as  conductors  of  heat. 
This  leaves  the  same  horizontal  strain  in  the  surface  rocks, 
and  the  way  in  which  the  force  is  applied  to  produce  the 
great  elevations  and  constant  movements  noticed  is  explained 
with  much  plausibility. 

It  is,  however,  a  recent  theory,  requires  mature  considera- 
tion, and  is  not  yet  received  by  the  exceedingly  respectable 
authorities  here  followed.  Still,  it  may  prove  to  be  true. 
The  earth,  as  a  whole,  has  been  proved  to  be  more  than  twice 
as  heavy  as  the  weight  of  its  surface  rocks  would  make  it, 
so  that  extreme  density  for  the  interior  or  a  vastly  heavier 
substance  must  be  supposed.  It  is  still  an  open  question  how 
this  is  to  be  explained,  and  it  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons 
for  the  acceptance  by  some  of  the  solid  theory.  To  accept 
it  would  vary  the  exphination  of  continent  outlining  and 
mountain  making,  but  would  not  demand  any  other  change. 


CHAPTER  11. 


HOW    EOCKS   AEE    MAJJE    AND    HOW   THEIK 


We  have  seen  that,  amidst  all  the  seeming  confusion  of  the 
earth  in  its  earlier  periods,  an  orderly  and  measured  progress 
appears  to  have  ruled  from  the  lirst.  Motion  produced 
notable  changes  and  change  was  controlled  and  guided  to- 
wards certain  definite  ends.  The  materials  that  came  finally 
together  to  produce  the  earth,  as  we  now  see  it,  were  all 
scattered  over  an  unspeakably  vast  space  as  vapor  or  "  star 
dust."  E.xamples  of  that  state  of  things  are  believed  to 
exist  still  in  the  Universe  by  astronomers.  They  are  called 
Nebulae. 

By  some  means  movement  was  commenced  among  these 
thinly  diflused  particles  of  matter — they  attracted  and  repelled 
each  other;  from  this  proceeded  heat.  Particles  of  the  same 
kind  attracted  each  other  most  strongly  and  produced  separa- 
tion and  concentration,  and  progress  was  commenced.  This 
continued  until  the  highest  degree  of  heat  was  produced  and 
then  concentration  was  carried  forward  by  the  process  of 
cooling  until  the  separation  of  the  mass  of  heavier  material 
from  the  lighter,  by  the  formation  of  a  crust,  made  another 
long  step  forward.  These  lighter  materials  took  the  form  of 
air  and  water;  the  water  fell  to  the  surface  or  floated  as  vapor 
in  the  air,  and  these  two,  assisted  by  powerful  chemical 
agents  and  the  vast  forces  we  considered  in  the  previous 
chapter,  commenced  the  work  of  reconstructing  the  surface 
material  of  the  hard-crust — that  is,  began  a  new  process  of 
rock  making. 

At  first  chemical  and  mechanical  forces  worked  alone. 
After  a  time  another  agent  appeared — the  Life  Force.     This 

41 


42  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

busy  and  intelligent  workman  was  a  remarkably  skillful 
clieniist  and  builder,  varied  the  style  and  the  aims  of  its 
work  according  to  circumstances,  and  so  distinctly  different 
are  the  forms  it  ])roduced  in  each  period  that  the  geologist 
uses  them  as  a  guide  in  his  researches. 

The  position  of  the  rocks  and  some  of  their  more  general,  as 
well  as  peculiar,  features  show  in  what  age  they  were  made. 
But  these  characteristics  are  not  always  present  or  may  not 
always  be  distinct  enough  to  make  them  reliable  as  a  guide.  So 
many  changes  have  occurred  that  nowhere  in  the  world  do  the 
entire  series  of  rocks  lie  in  regular  succession  one  above  the 
other.  Wljen  any  part  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  was  raised 
out  of  the  water  no  rock  was  formed,  and  sometimes,  while  so 
raised,  many  layers  already  formed  were  in  part  or  in  whole 
washed  away.  Then  the  same  surface  was  often  sunk  under 
water  again  and  another  series  was  formed  of  a  later  period, 
leaving  a  vast  break  in  the  series  at  that  point.  Sometimes 
they  were  so  disturbed  by  elevating  forces  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  tell  where  they  belonged  but  for  the  animal  or 
vegetable  remains  in  them. 

A  careful  study  of  these  remains  reveals  the  remarkable 
fact  that  some  classes  of  animals  are  wholly  confined  to 
certain  series  of  rocks,  and  that  the  varying  tribes,  families 
and  species  of  these  classes  are  limited  to  particular  layers  in 
the  series  formed  during  a  certain  period.  These  remains, 
therefore,  are  a  most  important  aid  in  classifying  rocks.  The 
life  force,  as  has  been  said,  varies  the  forms  according  to  the 
condition  of  the  climate,  of  the  air  and  the  water,  and  a  thou- 
sand local  or  general  circumstances.  These  indications,  joined 
with  the  chemical  structure  of  the  rocks,  the  special  materials 
of  which  they  are  composed,  the  marks  of  mechanical  force 
which  they  bear  and  their  position,  furnish  the  alphabet  of 
the  language  in  which  they  tell  their  story. 

It  is  a  language  that  requires  to  be  learned  by  study  and 
pains;  but  when  once  mastered  it  is  very  clear  and  definite  in 


THE    FOUE    CLASSES    OF    ROCKS.  43 

conveying  information.  It  is  the  most  reliable  of  histories, 
for  it  is  the  record  made  by  the  events  themselves  as  they 
passed.  It  is  the  phonograph  of  the  long  ages  before  there 
was  a  human  observer,  repeating  the  story  of  its  own  times 
to  us  much  more  exactly  than  such  an  observer  could  have 
learned  it. 

This  story  is  told  in  four  diiferent  volumes;  that  is  to  say, 
there  are  four  periods  and  four  classes  of  rocks  called  Azoic, 
PaliBozoic,  Mesozoic,  and  Cenozoic.  These  are  Greek  terms  : 
Azoic  meaning  without  life,'  Palseozoic,  ancient  life;  Meso- 
zoic, medicBval  or  middle  life,  and  Cenozoic,  recent  life. 
The  Azoic  rocks  contain  no  traces  of  life;  the  Palaeozoic  rocks, 
lying  above  the  first,  inclose  the  oldest  remains  of  life  that 
have  been  preserved  ;  the  Mes(«oic  rocks  rest  above  the 
Palaeozoic,  and  contain  remains  of  plants  and  animals  moie 
like  those  which  now  exist;  and  the  Cenozoic  rocks,  lying 
highest  of  all,  except  when  they  have  been  thrown  out  of 
place  by  elevating  or  disturbing  forces,  contain  recent  forms 
of  life  or  which  bear  a  close  resemblance  to  tliose  now  ex- 
isting. 

The  igneous  rocks  (ignis  is  Latin  for  fire^ — those  which 
cooled  after  having  been  melted — lie  at  the  bottom  under- 
neath all  the  rest,  except  in  cases  where  they  have  been  thrown 
out  of  volcanoes,  or  have  otherwise  burst  up  and  overflowed 
the  surface  through  breaks  in  the  crust,  both  which  cases  have 
been  very  numerous.  Sometimes  the  rocks  originally  lying 
above  them  have  been  thrown  off  in  mountain-making  or  have 
been  quite  worn  away  bj^  the  atmosphere,  rains,  and  ice. 
These  forces  have  always  been  actively  at  work  crumbling 
away  the  elevated  surfaces  of  the  land  and  carrying  away  frag- 
ments and  fine  material  in  blocks,  pebbles,  sand,  and  mud,  to 
form  new  layers  in  the  waters.  These  layers  form  "  aqueous 
rocks  "  (aqua  is  Latin  for  water). 

All  the  four  classes  above-mentioned  differ  from  the  igneous 
rocks.     They  are  the  finely  worn  material  of  the  igneous,  or  of 


44  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

other  aqueous,  rocks  spread  in  horizontal  layers  at  the  bottom 
of  water,  yet  sometimes  made  wholly  or  partly  of  the  broken, 
or  finely  ground,  remains  of  organic  forms,  or  sometimes 
formed  by  direct  chemical  action. 

The  Azoic  rocks  show  that  there  was  a  long  time  after  the 
waters  covered  the  surface,  during  which  there  was  too  much 
heat,  and  probably,  also,  too  strong  infusions  of  chemical  sub- 
stances unfriendly  to  life  to  permit  its  introduction.  The 
rocks  of  that  period  were  deeply  affected  by  heat,  sometimes 
rendering  it  difficult  to  tell  that  they  were  ever  stratified  or 
formed  of  successive  layers,  as  is  the  case  with  all  aqueous 
rocks.  It  is  believed  that  a  deep  layer  of  this  primitive  rock 
was  spread  over  all  regions  before  any  land  was  raised  out  of 
the  universal  sea.  Then  contraction  displayed  its  forces  in 
making  the  first  land,  the  waters  must  have  cooled,  while  the 
chemical  substances  in  them  diminished,  being  deposited  as 
rock. 

Arrived  at  this  point,  seaweeds  and  the  first  animals  ap- 
peared in  the  waters,  vast  beds  of  iron  and  copper  were  formed, 
and  Palaeozoic  time  had  begun.  The  waters  were  soon  alive 
with  animals.  One  of  the  principal  uses  of  the  shell  fish,  so 
extremely  abundant  at  this  time,  was  to  form  limestone  after 
their  death  from  the  stony  covering  in  which  they  inclosed 
themselves  in  life.  It  was  a  very  long  period.  Slowly  the 
surface  of  the  Valley  rose  and  fell.  After  each  change  differ- 
ent classes  of  rocks  were  formed,  difi'erent  species  of  animals 
flourished  in  the  waters  and  different  varieties  of  plants  ap- 
peared on  the  land. 

No  land  animals  are  known  to  have  existed  then,  and  it  was 
only  in  the  latter  part  of  this  period  that  fishes  appeared  in 
the  seas.  Nature  makes  her  great  changes  very  slowly.  So 
quietly  were  the  elevations  and  depressions  of  the  central 
Valley  made  that  the  rocks  there  were  but  little  displaced  or 
bent,  and  the  sinking  along  the  site  of  the  Alleghany  moun- 
tains was  so  slow  that  the  furmation  of  rock  could  keep  pace 


I 


THE    CLOSE   OF    ANCIENT    TIME.  45 

with  it ;  and  when,  at  the  close  of  this  long  period,  these 
mountains  were  raised,  it  was  so  long  in  the  doing  that  an 
eminent  authority  says,  "motion  by  the  few  inches  (or,  at 
most,  a  few  feet)  a  century  accords  best  with  the  facts." 

Nearly  all  the  rock-making  of  the  region  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  from  the  upper  part  of  the  Gulf  States  except 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  river  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio,  and  perhaps  all  of  Minnesota,  Iowa  and  Northern  Mis- 
souri, was  done  in  this  ancient  time.  On  the  nortliern  and 
especially  the  eastern  sides  a  large  part  of  the  material  for 
rocks  was  obtained  from  the  lands  where  other  rocks  were 
worn  down  and  carried  as  mud,  sand  and  pebbles  to  the  sea; 
but  in  the  quiet  interior  the  rocks  were  chiefly  limestone 
formed  from  the  shells  of  its  immense  swarms  of  animals. 

Toward  the  close  of  this  period  the  sea  seems  to  have  been 
largely  shut  out.  The  general  surface  lay  very  near  the  level 
of  the  water  and  vegetable  life,  for  the  first  time,  predomi- 
nated. When  a  vast  amount  of  forest  growth  had  been  gath- 
ered, the  surface  sunk  beneath  the  waters  and  the  vegetable 
material  was  buried  beneath  mud  and  other  rock-making 
material.  A  rise  then  occurred  bringing  the  surface  to  its 
former  position,  the  forest  growth  again  springing  up  to  be 
again  buried,  and  so  on  many  times  in  succession,  each  time 
furnishing  material  for  a  layer  of  coal.  After  a  period  of 
rest  which  allowed  this  to  consolidate,  the  first  great  moun- 
tain-making period  closed  Ancient,  or  Palaeozoic  time.  Only 
the  surface  of  the  upper  and  eastern  Valley  was  afterwards 
modified  or  received  additional  material. 

During  Mesozoic  time  much,  though  not  all,  of  the  remain- 
der of  the  Valley  was  filled  out.  In  Texas  there  was  a  shallow 
sea,  and  a  great  thickness  of  limestone  formed,  while  in  the 
waters  of  the  upper  part  of  the  Gulf  States — which  took  in  some 
of  Tennessee  and  much  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama — there  was 
probably  a  greater  depth  in  which  the  chalk  and  flint  forma- 
tion was  laid  from  shells  of  minute  animals,  and  sandstones 


46  TUE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

were  formed  from  the  material  washed  down  from  the  lands 
to  the  north.  What  was  done  during  this  time  in  the  broad 
channel  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the  site  of  the  moun- 
tains on  the  west  is  not  so  well  known  except  in  Nebraska  and 
near  the  Black  Hills  where  the  rocks  of  the  period  are  rich  in 
the  remains  of  the  life  of  that  time.  Toward  the  close  of  the 
Mesozoic,  the  symptoms  of  the  coming  vast  elevations  of  the 
great  Mountain-making  Era  began  to  appear  by  the  elevation 
of  the  sea-bottom  near  to,  or  just  above,  the  surface  of  the 
water  and  much  coal  was  made,  in  places,  amounting  to  about 
fifteen  thousand  square  miles  in  the  Western  Valley. 

There  was  a  very  great  change  in  animal  and  vegetable  life, 
which  shows  that  the  climate  and  the  general  conditions  on 
which  the  development  of  life  forms  largely  depends  were 
very  m;ich  altered  during  the  coal  and  mountain-making 
periods  which  closed  ancient  time.  It  was  a  transition  from 
the  Old  to  the  New  and  closed  with  the  supreme  display  of 
force  which  produced  the  largest  mountain  and  high  plateau 
systems  of  all  the  continents. 

This  elevation  was  not  wholly  completed  until  Cenozoic  or 
recent  time,  during  the  first  part  of  wliich  the  low  lands  bor- 
dering the  Gulf  were  completed  to  about  their  present  extent. 
The  western  plains  in  the  Valley,  which  continued  for  a  while 
to  be  a  region  of  marshes  and  fresh  water  lakes,  were  then 
filled  up  and  elevated. 

This  substantially  completed  the  structural  work  of  the 
Valley  and  of  the  continent,  and  introduced  the  general  con- 
ditions of  climate  which  still  exist.  With  all  the  great 
changes  which  occurred  on  three  of  its  borders,  the  Valley 
itself  was  a  generally  quiet  region,  even  the  elevation  of  the 
mountains,  in  which  it  shared,  disturbing  its  rocks  but 
slightly.  Yet,  slight  as  they  were,  these  disturbances  were  of 
great  importance.  They  produced  a  displacement,  for  in- 
stance, across  Illinois,  Northeastern  Iowa  and  Southwestern 
Indiana  crossing  the  Ohio  Kiver  at  Louisville,  giving  access 


DISTURBANCES    IN    THE    VALLEY.  47 

to  the  strata  laid  in  wliat  had  been,  for  the  most  part,  the 
quietest  region  of  the  nortliern  valley.  Nature  thus  ojiened 
the  book  for  science  to  read  and,  at  the  same  time,  accom- 
plished various  other  important  ends.  These  uplifts,  when 
tiiey  broke  and  turned  up  the  edges  of  the  rocks,  produced 
a  great  amount  of  heat,  and  the  quality  of  the  coal  beds  pre- 
viously formed  there  was  much  improved  thereby.  The  vari- 
ous layers  of  rock  were  also  hardened  and  rendered  more 
valuable  as  building  material  and  the  drainage  was  more  or 
less  improved. 

Parts  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri  and  Arkansas 
shared  in  these  disturbances,  during  which  nature  took  occa- 
sion to  distribute  some  of  the  most  valuable  minerals  where 
they  would  exert  a  powerful  influence  on  the  welfare  of  its 
future  inhabitants.  Wishing  to  render  tlie  central  point  at- 
tractive and  valuable  for  historical  and  industrial  purposes, 
she  took  much  pains  to  enrich  Missouri  with  minerals  and  to 
supply  Illinois  with  a  gftod  quality  of  coal  with  which  to 
work  them  at  the  least  expense. 

Thus  all  the  rocks  were  formed  with  a  variety  of  intelligent 
and  benevolent  purposes  in  view. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HOW    NATUEE  FINISHED  THE  VALLEY  AND  PEEPARED  IT  FOE  MA3?. 

The  last  part  of  the  middle  period,  or  Mesozoic  time,  and 
the  tirst  part  of  the  recent  period  were  occupied  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  vast  mountain  systems  which  left  the  continents 
at  their  present  elevation,  and  with  the  same  general  relations 
to  the  seas  and  to  each  other  as  now.  The  division  between 
the  middle  and  recent  times  is  made  at  the  point  where  the 
forms  of  life  that  still  exist  began  to  appear  in  the  rocks. 
Cenozoic  time  is  divided  by  geologists  into  two  parts,  the  first 
called  the  Tertiary,  the  second  and  last,  which  includes  the 
present,  the  Quaternary. 

The  Tertiary  is  divided  into  three  parts,  according  to  the 
abundance  of  the  species  of  life  forms  that  still  exist.  The 
last  of  these  is  called  the  Pliocene,  which  means  "  more  recent." 
A  large  proportion  of  the  species  of  plants  and  animals  found! 
preserved  in  its  rocks  still  remain.  The  next  before  it,  and 
further  back  from  us  in  time,  is  called  Miocene,  meaning  "less 
recent."  The  first  era  of  the  Tertiary  is  called  the  Eocene,  which 
means  "  the  dawn  of  the  recent."  There  are  rocks  of  all  these 
periods  in  the  western  and  southern  Valley,  for  the  full  out- 
lines of  those  sections  were  not  gained  until  the  mountains 
and  plateaus  had  reached  their  present  elevation. 

The  gains  of  land  in  the  Valley  were  not  remarkably  large 
in  any  of  these  three  eras,  for  the  general  surface  was  already 
above  the  reach  of  the  sea,  but  the  rocks  of  those  times  that 
loere  made  are  of  very  great  interest.  They  were  chiefly  fresh 
water  formations  from  the  Black  Hills  southward,  and  east- 
ward from  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  contain  a 
very  interesting  class  of  fossil  forms  of  the  Icmd  animals  of 

48 


THE    PLAINS    DURING    THE    TERTIARY.  49 

the  three  eras  immediately  preceding  tlie  age  of  ice  and  the 
appearance  of  man.  A  part  of  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Kansas, 
and  portions  of  tlie  territories  bordering  them  on  the  west  and 
soutli  formed  a  hike  region  all  through  the  Tertiarj-,  or  at  least 
through  the  most  of  it.  It  was  then  a  region  of  unstable 
level,  very  much  like  the  eastern  Valley  during  the  age  of 
foul-makiiig,  and  the  results  were  similar,  for  some  15.000 
square  miles  of  that  region  have  beds  of  workable  coal,  which 
date  from  these  deposits. 

There  is  much  that  is  extremely  interesting  in  tliese  coals 
and  rocks  besides  the  animal  remains  they  inclose.  Much 
of  the  coal  is  only  partially  reduced.  It  is  called  lignite,  or 
woody  coal,  for  the  structure  of  the  wood  is  often  very  evi- 
dent and  it  has  not  all  the  density  of  true  coal,  nor  its  value 
for  all  purposes.  The  rocks  are  also  less  compact,  in  general, 
though  in  some  situations,  and  when  chemical  conditions  were 
favorable,  very  solid  and  firm  building  stone  is  found.  Yet, 
the  surface  deposits  were  generally  soft  and  loose,  they  did 
net  have  time  to  consolidate,  and,  being  mostly  formed  in 
fresli  water,  which  had  less  of  chemical  substances  to  unite 
and  compact  the  materials,  it  was  left  comparatively  friable. 

For  this  reason  the  surface  rocks  wei'e  very  heavily  worn 
down  and  washed  away  in  later  periods,  leaving  deep  river 
beds  and  here  and  there  isolated  embankments,  pyramids,  and 
figures  of  strange  and  fanciful  shapes — the  remains  of  the 
original  layers.  These  sometimes  very  much  resemble  monu- 
ments of  human  labor,  yet  are  always  distinguishable  by 
being  strat'ified.  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Colorado  furnish 
much  curious  and  interesting  scenery  varied  and  beautified  by 
this  means.  The  strata  of  Tertiary  times  in  the  lower  Valley 
were  not  washed  and  worn  as  much  as  on  tlie  plains  and,  for 
the  most  part,  were  more  suddenly  raised  out  of  the  sea. 

The  cli«iate  of  this  period  was  warm-temperate — very  much 
like  that  of  the  southern  Valley  at  the  present  day.    Vegeta- 
tion was  therefore  luxuriant  and  animal  life  abundant.     With 
4 


50  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  close  of  the  Tertiary  the  Valley  was  fairly  complete  in  its 
outlines,  in  its  general  provision  of  metals  and  coal,  and  in 
the  rocks  suitable  for  the  purposes  of  the  future.  When  these 
should  be  sufficiently  pulverized  they  would  furnish  elements 
of  inexhaustible  fertility  to  the  soil. 

The  final  processes  that  were  to  give  to  this  broad  region  its 
crowning  value  for  *an  were  reserved  to  the  last  part  of 
Cenozoic  time,  called  the  Quaternary  period.  In  a  region 
where  the  rocks  next  the  surface  are  Azoic,  or  where  they  are  of 
igneous  origin,  the  soil  is  thin  and  of  moderate  fertility.,  often 
barren.  Even  if  those  parts  of  it  which  are  crumbled  by  the 
atmosphere  and  frost  are  not  washed  away  they  do  not  con- 
tain the  variety  of  elements  necessary  to  an  abundant  vegeta- 
tion; the  soil  is  not  deep  enough  to  retain  the  necessary 
moisture,  or  it  is  too  comjjact  and  clings  too  closely  to  the 
underlying  rock  to  be  sufficiently  drained.  It  was  necessary 
to  provide  against  these  disadvantages  in  the  Valle}-.  This  wa& 
accomplished  during  the  three  epochs  of  the  Quaternary. 

These  three  eras  are  called  the  Glacial  period,  the  Cliamplain 
period  and  the  Terrace  period.  The  last  includes  the  time 
that  is  now  passing.  The  causes  of  the  Glacial  period,  or  the 
Age  of  Ice,  are  not  clearly  understood — at  least  geologists  are 
not  agreed  upon  them — and  various  theories  have  been  sug- 
gested, none  of  which  seem  to  be  entirely  satisfactory.  Some 
attribute  it  to  astronomical  influences.  The  orbit  of  the  earth 
slowly  varies  during  a  long  period  and  then  returns  to  its 
original  state.  When  it  was  most  elliptical,  and  carried  the 
earth  furthest  away  from  the  sun  in  one  part  of  its  track,  the 
Glacial  era  is  supposed  to  have  occurred.  Some  scientific  men 
of  great  eminence  favor  this  view.  Changes  in  the  amount 
of  heat  furnished  by  the  sun,  changes  in  the  sea  bottom 
of  regions  near  the  equator, ♦>r  the  sinking  of  the  isthmus  con- 
necting the  two  parts  of  the  American  Continent,  have  been 
appealed  to.  as  also  changef  in  the  atmosphere. 

Studies  on  these  theories  are    not    sufficiently  mature  to 


THE    AGE    OF    ICE    AND    ITS    SERVICES.  51 

determine  what  may  be  their  real  vahie  as  yet.  It  seems 
fairly  certain  that  after  the  vast  mountain  elevations  ceasing 
before  the  end  of  the  Tertiary  period  the  northern  parts  of  the 
continents  were  considerably  raised  as  a  whole.  It  is  thought 
that  Behrings  Straits  were  closed,  and  that  the  sea  bottom  of 
the  Northern  Atlantic  was  raised  so  that  Europe  and  North 
America  were  connected  for  a  time.  This  would  shut  out  the 
warm  ocean  currents  from  the  Arctic  regions,  and,  joined  with 
the  general  elevation,  might  account  for  the  vast  sheet  of 
mingled  ice,  snow  and  water  that  slowly  moved  down  to  the 
central  Valley.  Such  a  condition  of  things  now  exists  in 
Greenland,  and  the  evidences  of  its  former  state,  from  the 
eastern  part  of  New  England  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  are 
very  numerous  and  positive. 

The  flow  of  ice  descended  to  the  Ohio  River  or  its  vicinity. 
The  softer  rocks  on  the  northern  rim  of  the  Valley  were 
ground  very  fine,  while  great  boulders,  or  blocks,  of  the  harder 
rocks  were  broken  off,  imbedded  in  the  ice,  and  brought  far 
down  the  Valley  with  immense  quantities  of  smaller  frag- 
ments, pebbles  and  coarse  gravel.  The  depressions  of  the 
Great  Lakes  are  believed  to  have  been  made  at  first  by  vol- 
canic action  in  early  times,  to  have  been  nearly  filled  by  a 
deposit  of  softer  rock  in  the  slow  progress  of  Palteozoic  and 
Mesozoic  times  which  was  scooped  out  and  crushed  by  this 
resistless  shovel  and  mill,  and  carried  down  into  the  Valley. 

After  this  crushing  process  had  accumulated  the  mass  of 
"  drift,"  as  this  loose  material  is  called,  at  the  lower  extremity 
of  the  great  glacier,  the  northern  regions  slowly  sank  again, 
continuing  that  process  far  below  the  present  level,  when  it 
ceased  and  a  rise  again  commenced.  "When  the  elevation  that 
is  supposed  to  have  brought  on  this  Age  of  Ice  ceased  and 
the  sinking  commenced,  the  climate  began  to  grow  warmer, 
the  ice  melted,  the  glaciers  retreated  to  the  neighborhood  of 
the  pole,  and  the  Champlain  Era  began. 

During  this  time  the  melting  of  the  ice  and  the  lower  level 


52  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

of  the  northern  Valley  flooded  much  or  all  of  it,  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  drift  was  etfected.  There  were  rushing  cur- 
rents that  carried  everything  movable  before  them.  The 
pebbles  and  heavier  material  naturally  found  the  lowest  place 
at  the  bottom  of  the  drift.  As  the  force  of  the  currents 
diminished,  the  lighter  and  finer  material  was  spread  over  the 
mass  of  loose  stone,  sometimes  in  very  deep  embankments 
of  mud,  and  in  the  broad  lakes  and  still  waters  of  the  period 
the  silt  containing  the  largest  amount  of  material  required 
for  a  rich,  deep  soil  was  slowly  deposited. 

This  continued  for  some  time  after  the  rise  had  again  com- 
menced. When  this  rise  had  drained  off  most  of  the  region 
the  wearing  down  of  the  present  river  channels  began.  The 
vast  amount  of  water  to  be  drained  oif  made  very  large  streams, 
which  may  now  be  estimated  in  the  distances  from  bluif  to 
bluff  on  each  side  of  the  river  bottoms,  for  originally  the 
Valleys  did  not  exist,  the  whole  surface  being  very  nearly,  or 
quite,  even  and  all  the  deep  cuts  of  the  valleys  (probably 
where  still  more  ancient  river  beds  had  been)  were  worn  out 
by  the  streams.  Sometimes  the  gradual  rise  of  the  general 
surface,  which  caused  this  powerful  wearing  down  of  the 
channels,  was  stopped  for  a  while  and  the  shore  line  formed 
a  terrace  or  bench.     This  is  called  the  Terrace  epoch. 

The  Champlain  Era,  during  which  the  drift  was  chiefly  dis- 
tributed, was  so  called  because  its  effects  are  very  marked  in 
the  region  of  that  lake,  and  it  was  first  carefully  studied  there. 
The  Glacial,  Champlain  and  Terrace  Eras  were  parts  of  the  one 
great  and  important  period  which  gave  the  Valley  its  pre- 
eminence as  an  agricultural  region.  The  first  provided  the 
material  for  a  deep  undersoil,  the  second  spread  it  out  sys- 
tematically, so  that  the  whole  region  should  get  the  benefit 
of  it,  laid  the  coarse  material  beneath  so  as  to  form  a  natural 
drain,  and  held  the  lighter  and  richer  materials  in  solution  in 
the  waters  until  they  could  be  laid  on  the  top. 

The  level  prairies  were  the  sites  of  shallow  lakes  which 


ORIGIN    OF    PRAIRIE    SUBSOILS.  53 

finally  became  marshes  in  most  cases ;  the  rolling  prairies 
testify  to  the  rush  and  recoil  of  the  shallow  fresh-water  seas 
that  followed  the  melting  of  the  ice;  and  the  ravines,  the  hills, 
and  the  smaller  valleys  indicate  the  washing  away  of  portions 
of  the  surface  in  the  process  of  draining.  The  plains,  that 
gradually  rise  from  the  Missouri  River,  and  from  about  the 
western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Missouri  until,  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountains,  nearly  600  miles  distant,  they  are  5,000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  washed  very  heavily  and  sent  much 
of  the  material  at  the  surface  to  be  distributed  in  the  cen- 
tral Valley,  or  to  fill  up  the  basin  of  the  lower  Mississippi. 

This  material  along  the  rivers  is  a  purer  and  heavier  deposit 
than  is  generally  found  elsewhere.  Old  river  beds  existed 
here  before  the  age  of  ice,  and  the  finest  and  best  material 
naturally  flowed  toward  these  lowest  levels.  When  the  level 
of  the  land  was  so  near  that  of  the  water  as  to  render  the 
currents  light,  very  thick  deposits  were  made.  Sometimes  the 
current  would  be  stopped  by  an  obstruction  in  the  channel 
and  then  a  wide-spreading  lake  would  be  formed,  and  so 
heavily  were  the  waters  laden  with  earthy  matter  that  in  time 
the  whole  lake  would,  perhaps,  be  filled  with  it.  Nearly  a 
third  part  of  Iowa — the  western  part — the  eastern  part  of 
Nebraska,  with  some  portions  of  Kansas  and  Missouri,  were 
covered  by  such  a  vast  lake  filled  with  this  "  Bluff  Formation  " 
or  "Loess,"  as  it  is  called,  and  vast  quantities  of  it  were  used 
to  fill  up  the  lower  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  River.  It  is 
still  being  deposited  at  its  various  mouths,  and  making  land 
into  the  Gulf. 

These  surface  deposits  contain  much  loam  and  chemical 
material  required  in  vegetable  growth,  and  to  it  are  due  the 
remarkable  and  durable  qualities  of  the  immediate  undersoil. 
As  soon  as  the  water  was  drawn  off  or  became  sufiiciently 
shallow,  a  rich  vegetation  sprung  up  and  the  marshes  were 
filled,  in  the  course  of  time,  with  a  vegetable  mold  of  great 
depth,  and  it  accumulated  over  all  the  surface  of  the  higher 


54  THE    MISSISSIPI'I    VALLEY. 

ground,  though  it  was  frequentlj'  washed  down  from  the 
knolls  and  hills  to  lower  surfaces.  Unnumbered  years  of  this 
growth  and  decay  of  plants  and  grasses  on  the  prairies  and 
fall  of  leaves  in  the  forests  collected  a  vast  reserve  of  decayed 
organic  remains,  or  vegetable  mold,  which  put  it  in  the  best 
possible  condition  for  the  husbandman.  Nature  took  abund- 
ance of  time  to  fertilize  the  Valley  and  the  civilized  farmer 
found  it  the  richest  garden.  The  Animal  Kingdom  lent  its 
aid  to  the  Vegetable  in  this  furnishing  process.  The  vast 
mastodon,  herds  of  buffalo  and  deer,  and  countless  other  ani- 
mals, large  and  small,  fed  on  its  herbage  and  were  "  herded  " 
there  from  birth  to  death.  Thus  was  the  work  of  preparing 
this  favored  region  for  its  human  occupant  completed. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

^^VEGETABLE    AND    ANIMAL    LIFE ITS    ORIGIN     AND     PKOGKESS. 

The  mysterious  force  we  call  Life  is  a  wonderful  and  most 
intelligent  Architect.  All  the  resources  of  chemistry  are 
at  its  command,  and  the  best  trained  skill  of  science  fails 
to  reproduce  its  results,  even  with  the  same  materials  used 
in  the  same  proportions.  The  usual  laws  and  qualities  of 
the  matter  it  employs  as  building  material  bow  to  it  as  their 
master,  being  suspended  in  its  presence,  or  adapting  their 
action  to  its  purposes  ;  and,  armed  with  such  authority, 
this  invisible  intelligence  raises  matter  to  a  higher  level  of 
powers  and  uses  with  an  unerring  certainty  and  cunning 
skill  wonderful  to  behold.  In  its  hands  dead  matter 
becomes  alive.  It  shows  inexhaustible  ingenuity  in  varying 
the  form  and  details  of  different  structures.  Now  it  works 
them  out  with  exquisite  finish  of  detail,  but  so  minute 
that  many  thousands  may  dwell  together  in  a  single  drop 
of  water  with  roomy  ease,  and  again  builds  the  ponderous 
elephant  or  whale,  the  tiny  plant,  the  coarse  shrub,  or  the 
mighty  tree.  The  powers  conferred  on  these  works  of  its 
hand  are  equally  various  and  wonderful.  This  plant  pro- 
duces a  virulent  poison,  that  a  delicate  perfume,  the  other 
a  nourishing  fruit.  There  is  an  endless  display  of  difierent 
forms,  qualities,  and  uses,  which  it  is  the  office  of  the  science 
of  Botany  among  plants,  and  of  Zoology  among  animals, 
to  investigate,  and  the  fields  are  so  large  that,  after  hun- 
dreds of  years  of  study  by  enthusiastic  learners,  they  are 
explored  only  in  part. 

The  animal  world  is  higher  in  the  scale,  more  varied  iu 

55 


66  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

form,  in  qualities,  and  in  uses,  to  which  its  instincts  and  dis- 
positions exactly  correspond.  Fierceness  and  courage  go  with 
powerful  weapons  of  attack,  while  to  weakness  and  timidity 
are  joined  strong  defences,  swiftness  in  flight  or  cunning  arts 
of  evasion.  Each  living  thing  exists  for  some  sufficient  reason 
or  purpose,  and  every  individual  form  of  life  is  the  intelligent 
development  of  a  thought  which  it  would  require  a  volume 
to  present  in  full  detail. 

This  skillful  and  magic  builder  has  been  unwearied  in  labor. 
Ever  since  the  seas  were  cooled  and  the  surface  rock  pul- 
verized, so  as  to  furnisli  the  necessary  material  for  its  opera- 
tions, the  products  of  its  activity  have  been  innumerable,  with 
a  constant  variation  of  species  of  the  same  order  or  addition 
of  different  classes.  Twenty  thousand  species  from  the 
Palaeozoic  rocks  have  been  described,  and  these  are  probably 
but  a  small  part  of  the  number  then  existing;  and  so  numerous 
were  the  individuals  that  the  defensive  armor  or  stony  frame- 
work of  some  classes  of  them  has,  after  their  death,  been  formed 
into  rocks  of  vast  extent  and  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness. 

But  various  as  are  the  forms  which  the  life  force  produces 
its  mode  of  operating  is  at  first  uniform.  Its  building  process 
is  commenced  with  a  cell  of  softor  plastic  matter  which  seems 
to  understand  perfectly  what  it  is  to  produce,  what  materials 
are  required,  and  how  they  are  to  be  handled.  A  call  is 
issued  for  material  which  passes  through  the  wall  of  the  cell 
and  presents  itself  with  obedient  readiness.  It  is  dissolved, 
re-combined,  and  laid  in  place.  The  cell  expands,  is  divided, 
and  the  same  process  continued  in  each  cell  until  the  proper 
dimensions  have  been  reached  in  every  direction,  and  the 
necessary  form  and  consistence  has  been  given  to  every  part 
of  the  organism ;  different  materials  or  different  combinations 
of  the  same  material  often  being  employed  in  different  parts. 
Each  part  is  endowed  with  the  cajiacity  to  perform  its  appro- 
priate work  in  the  general  result  to  l)e  aecumplished  by  the 
complete    living  thing   in  which  it  is  placed.     A  multitude 


TRANSMISSION    AND    VARIATION.  57 

of  organs  work  to  a  coininou  end  with  intallible  accuracy 
and  harmony. 

When  each  form  reaches  maturity,  and  the  full  development 
and  power  it  was  designed  to  receive  within  and  without  is 
gained,  a  part  of  its  energies  are  employed  in  the  work  of 
preparing  for  a  successor,  or  a  multitude  of  successors,  of  its 
own  form  and  kind— the  germ  of  a  new  individual  which 
shall  reach  the  same  development  and  possess  the  same  quali- 
ties is  produced.  Thus  the  life  and  qualities  of  the  first  of 
each  race  are  transmitted,  and  the  origin  of  all  the  future  in- 
dividuals of  its  kind,  however  numerous  or  long  continued 
the  race  may  be,  is  provided  for. 

A  small  range  of  variation  between  the  parent  and  the  de- 
scendant is  often  seen,  and  a  change  in  outward  circumstances 
has  been  found  to  increase  variation  largely.  Transmission 
of  qualities  and  form  is  governed  by  definite  laws,  and,  by 
observing  these,  important  changes  have  been  brought  about 
by  man  in  the  management  of  the  products  of  plants  and  trees, 
and  in  similar  ways  desirable  qualities  of  domestic  animals 
have  been  improved.  Careful  and  careless  cultivation  make 
wide  differences  in  the  quality  of  farm  and  garden  produce, 
while  an  intelligent  attention  to  parentage  may  cause  a  great 
gain  in  the  value  of  domestic  animals;  but  the  difference  has 
never  been  known  to  be  so  great  or  fundameatal  as  to  origi- 
nate in  this  way  a  wholly  new  animal  or  plant. 

Variation  is  observed  to  accumulate,  however,  in  long 
periods  of  time,  and  it  is  believed  by  many  that  in  the  long 
duration  of  plant  and  animal  existence  it  may  account  for  all 
the  different  varieties  that  have  ever  been  known — that  they 
all  had  their  remote  origin  in  one  primal  being.  A  study  of 
life  through  all  time  shows  that  the  most  perfect  animals  and 
plants  are  to  be  found  now,  and  that  they  constantly  descend 
in  the  scale  as  the  observe  traces  them  back  toward  their 
beginning.  According  to  this  theory  the  life  force  in  the 
first  anituals  was  feeble  and  indeterminate;  it  grew  stronger 


58  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  more  definite  as  the  circumstances  became  more  favor- 
able. The  variations  that  founded  all  the  different  classes 
arose  in  the  long  periods  of  time  seeming  to  be  required  for 
geological  changes;  so  that  the  whole  vast  number  of  species 
and  their  surprisingly  different  forms  and  qualities  are  so 
many  branches  growing  from  one  original  stock. 

This  is  rather  a  theory,  striving  to  account  for  the  succes- 
sion of  life  on  the  earth,  for  the  resemblances,  diversities  and 
gradual  progress  of  its  forms  toward  the  ideal  animal — man — 
than  a  proved  scientific  truth.  The  first  forms  of  life  may 
have  been,  and  probably  were,  too  slight  in  structure  to  be 
preserved  in  the  early  rocks,  which  were  subjected  to  great 
changes  by  heat  and  chemical  agents;  there  are  various  leaves 
gone  from  the  volume  of  nature — at  least  they  seem  not  to 
have  been  found,  or,  if  found,  have  not  been  properly  inter- 
preted— and  observation  has  not  yet  been  able  to  trace  the 
steps  of  the  great  transformations,  if  they  really  occurred, 
with  the  clearness  and  certainty  that  would  amount  to  proof 

If  the  origin,  relationships  and  progress  of  life  are  not  to 
be  accounted  for  in  this  way,  how,  then,  are  they  to  be  explained  ? 
It  has  been  usual,  until  recently,  to  consider  that  each  distinct 
species  of  plants  and  animals  was  specially  created  by  the  in- 
telligent Power  from  whose  hand  all  things  originally  came, 
and  that  each  was  introduced  when  the  circumstances  were 
suitable.  This,  also,  is  without  positive  proof  in  the  records 
of  the  earth  itself.  There  is  a  class  of  rocks  below  which  no 
trace  of  them  has  been  found;  they  made  their  first  appear- 
ance in  small  numbers,  increasing  in  the  later  rocks,  showing 
more  perfect  development,  or,  at  least,  more  numerous  and 
perfect  species,  until  they  disappeared  or  reached  their  present 
condition.  How  they  came  the  rocks  do  not  explain,  and  it 
seems  as  great  an  exertion  of  power  to  confer  on  the  Life 
Force  this  wonderful  gift  of  adaptation  and  variation,  of 
changing  its  mode  of  structure  in  such  astonishing  waj's  and 
bestowing  such  an  extraordinary  diversity  of  capabilities  and 


CREATION    AND    EVOLUTION.  59 

qualities  on  its  dilierent  products,  as  to  introduce  them  by 
direct  creation. 

Many  experiments  and  careful  studies  hav^e  been  made  to 
ascertain  if  nature  now  contains  within  itself  a  power  of 
spontaneous  generation — of  producing  a  germ  without  the 
aid  of  parents — but  no  such  instance  has  been  discovered ; 
no  hint  has  been  given  that  nature  ever  possessed  such  a 
power,  unless  the  fact  of  the  appearance  of  new  species  and 
races  may  be  so  considered.  On  the  contrary,  early  races 
are  often  found  to  combine  in  their  forms  and  qualities  the 
peculiarities  of  two  or  more  races  that  afterward  made  their 
ajxpearance,  suggesting  the  idea  that  they  may  have  been  the 
original  stock  from  which  distinct  branches  grew.  A  large 
number  of  similar  facts  seem  to  give  countenance  to  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  or  the  gradual  development  of  different 
species  and  classes  from  those  that  preceded  them. 

There  is  certainly  a  law  of  evolution — an  unfolding  of 
many  parts  having  close  relationship  to  one  stock  or  root — 
but  it  does  not  seem  capable  of  explaining  all  the  facts  ob- 
served. The  sudden  appearance  of  classes  widely  different 
from  any  that  had  before  been  found  is  frequently  noticed, 
for  which  evolution  has  no  well-proved  explanation;  and  a 
variety  of  similar  facts  seems  to  indicate  the  operation,  occa- 
sionally at  least,  of  some  other  law  regulating  the  introduc- 
tion and  propagation  of  forms  of  life. 

The  most  interesting  question  of  all  relates  to  Man  as  an 
animal  and  as  an  all-comprehending  intelligence.  In  the 
general  features  of  his  bodily  structure  he  is  closely  related 
to  the  higher  animals,  while  in  his  mental  and  spiritual 
powers  there  is  a  world-wide  difference.  In  one  view  he 
seems  to  be  the  climax  of  animal  development;  in  another,  he 
has  a  kind  of  faculties  with  a  compass  and  power  absolutely 
unparalleled  in  creation  as  we  know  it. 

Physically,  he  stands  as  the  ultimate  end,  the  most  perfect, 
the  most  beautiful  and  noble  of  all  the  products  of  the  Life 


60  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Force.  He  is  the  finest  sample  of  its  architectural  skill,  and 
is  endowed  with  a  variety  and  breadth  of  sweep  of  physical 
capabilities  and  adaptations  that  place  him  at  the  head  of  the 
Systems  of  Life.  But,  by  his  intelligence  and  moral  qualities 
he  seems  to  be  the  significance,  the  end  and  purpose  of  the 
system  of  nature  as  a  whole.  He  can  combine  and  control 
chemical  and  mechanical  powers  so  as  to  become  superior  in 
strength  to  all  other  forces  of  the  organic  world  united.  He 
is,  therefore.  King  in  the  earth.  He  may  penetrate  the  thought 
of  which  each  part  of  nature  is  the  embodiment,  so  that  ail 
nature  is  as  a  book  made  for  his  reading  and  instruction;  and 
still  above  this  quality  is  his  range  of  moral  powers;  of  dis- 
tinguishing between  right  and  wrong;  of  admiring  purTty 
and  moral  beauty,  and  of  practicing  virtue.  These  capacities 
of  control,  of  reflection,  of  combinations  whose  results  often 
resemble  creation ;  his  power  of  living  in  the  past  and  the 
future  by  a  well-trained  imagination,  render  him  immeasura- 
bly superior  to  every  other  animal. 

How  did  he  become  so  like  and  so  unlike  all  the  other 
products  of  the  Life  Force?  It  is  the  most  interesting  and 
the  most  difficult  question  which  the  consideration  of  the 
system  of  life  suggests,  and  finds,  as  yet,  no  satisfactory  an- 
swer in  the  researches  of  science.  It  is  the  last  and  deepest 
secret  of  the  systems  of  nature  and  of  life,  and  the  key  to 
them  both.  Science  has  demonstrated,  veiy  clearly,  that  defi- 
nite purposes  and  ends  unite  all  the  stages  in  the  develop- 
ment of  animate  and  inanimate  nature.  Man  was  evidently 
designed  to  be  the  interpreter  of  the  whole,  to  conquer  all  its 
secrets.  They  will  be  delivered  to  him  in  due  time.  The  sep- 
arate volumes  are  being  carefully  and  successfully  studied,  and 
all  the  relations  of  one  to  the  other  will  ultimately  be  apparent. 
Nature,  with  all  its  various  parts  and  purposes,  is  evidently  one 
and  tends  to  one  great  end,  which  seems  to  be  secured  in  the 
qualities,  the  powers  and  the  destinies  of  its  last  and  greatest 
production.  Man.  can  never  rest  until  all  the  meaning  which 
its  various  developments  contain  stands  clearly  revealed. 


THE    LIFE    FORCE    IN    ANIMAXS    AND    PLANTS.  61 

Though  the  Life  Force  seems  to  be  a  common  principle  in 
all  tlie  forms  it  organizes,  and  to  follow  the  same  methods  so 
far  as  the  objects  it  seeks  permit,  its  manifestations  in  the 
different  spheres  of  its  activity  are  extremely  different.  There 
seems  little  in  common  between  the  tree,  the  fish,  the  horse 
and  man;  and  yet  there  is  a  strong  likeness  in  the  first  opera- 
tions of  the  building  force  to  which  they  all  owe  their  e.xistence ; 
and  there  are  points  of  contact  in  the  great  classes  where  it 
seems  ditlicult  to  distinguish  them  from  each  other.  Lt  is 
difficult  to  tell  that  the  lowest  animals  are  not  plants,  and  the 
least  developed  men  seem  to  be  only  superior  animals.  They 
seem,  in  some  respects,  to  be  parts  of  one  system  of  life;  but 
the  most  characteristic  examples  of  development  in  each  place 
a  world-wide  difference  between  the  classes. 

The  plant  commences  with  a  cell,  or  a  collection  of  cells, 
and  builds  down  into  the  dark  and  damp  earth  and  up  in  the 
sunlight.  It  uses  the  earth  as  its  support  and  both  earth  and 
air  are  its  magazines  of  raw  material,  while,  by  its  foliage,  it 
expels  some  gases  and  takes  in  others — the  light  assisting  in 
its  work.  In  the  animal  the  building  force  commences  with 
a  center  and  works  each  way  toward  the  extremities — in  the 
lowest  animals  not  distinguishing  a  head  at  all,  but  spend- 
ing more  and  more  elaboratf  pains  on  that  part  as  the  animal 
rises  in  rank. 

The  higher  plants  are  firmly  fixed  in  the  earth,  have  no 
power  of  movement  and  no  self-consciousness.  All  but  the 
lowest  animals  are  free  to  move,  have  sensation,  consciousness, 
and  a  certain  power  of  will  in  the  control  of  their  motions  ; 
these  gifts  becoming  more  complete  in  the  higher  animals 
until  they  find  a  kind  of  boundless  development  in  man. 

The  plant  finds  its  nourishment  without  and  near  it  and 
draws  it  in  by  attraction  through  its  pores;  the  animal  goes 
about  for  its  food  which  it  takes  into  a  central  cavity  where  it 
is  digested  and  from  which  it  is  distributed  through  the  system 
as  needed. 


62 


THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


The  plant  organizes  its  substance  directly  from  the  crude, 
unorganized  material  of  the  earth;  but  the  animal  depends 
on  the  plant  world  as  its  magazine  of  food.  It  uses  only 
organized  material — plants  or  other  animals. 

Thus  the  two  kingdoms  differ  widely  while  being  most 
intimately  bound  together. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

VEGETATION    IN    THE    VAiLET,     ANCIENT    AND    MODERN. 

The  system  of  life  .has  two  sides,  the  vegetable  and  the 
animal,  which  interlock  to  form  a  whole.  In  some  respects, 
also,  the  system  of  vegetable  life  may  be  considered  the  base 
or  condition  of  animal  life.  The  building  force  goes  directly 
to  the  mineral  kingdom  for  its  material  when  it  constructs 
vegetable  forms.  Decayed  vegetable  or  animal  remains, 
indeed,  speed  its  work,  but  only  by  furnishing  the  material 
required  in  greater  abundance,  thereby  sa%'ing  time  and 
enabling  it  to  build  more  sumptuously.  Though  the  general 
plan  is  the  same,  the  ends  are  diSerent  in  each  of  the  two 
systems.  For  the  vegetable  the  aim  is  restricted  and  modest. 
It  is  the  servant  to  wait  upon  the  animal,  the  magazine  con- 
taining the  supplies  for  its  physical  wants. 

This  is  the  leading  use  of  vegetable  life,  but  various  others 
are  seen,  in  all  of  which  service  is  rendered  to  the  higher  class. 
It  aids  in  the  collection  and  deposition  of  some  metals  very 
useful  to  man;  it  supplies  petroleum  and  coal  in  vast  abund- 
ance ;  it  furnishes  numberless  materials  for  man's  higher 
development ;  enriches  the  surface  of  the  earth  b}'  the  decay 
of  its  forms  and  covers  it  with  beauty;  supplies  the  most 
agreeable  and  nourishing  fruits,  and  is  a  magazine  of  per- 
fumes, of  medicines  and  of  art  supplies.  Much  of  this,  how- 
ever, was  reserved  for  development  as  the  human  period 
approached.  In  the  early  days  of  Palseozoic  time  the  builder 
employed  comparatively  little  skill  on  vegetable  forms.    • 

The  general  plan  of  vegetable  structures  is  radiafe;  that  is, 
similar  parts  start  from  a  common  center,  and  spread  out 
in  various  directions,  while  for  animals  there  are  five  different 

63 


64:  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

plans  by  which  the  life  forms  of  that  kingdom  are  graded. 
There  are,  however,  two  great  classes  of  vegetable  forms — 
Cryptogams  and  Pheiiogams — the  distinction  being  founded 
on  their  modes  of  reproduction.  Cryptogams  have  no  proper 
flowers  or  fruit,  the  seed  which  produces  the  new  plant  being 
of  the  simplest  kind,  and,  for  the  most  part,  there  is  very 
little  of  the  surprisingly  elaborate  and  ingenious  detail  found, 
as  a  rule,  in  the  higher  class. 

Phenogams  have  flowers  which  surround  a  system  of  organs 
employed  in  producing  the  seed  that  is  to  give  birth  to  the 
young  plant,  and  the  seed  is  commonly  furnished  with  a  store 
of  nutriment  for  the  use  of  the  germ  in  the  early  stages  of  its 
development.  It  is  the  parental  instinct  caring  for  the  start 
in  life  of  its  oflPspring.  Very  often  this  thoughtful  provision 
is  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  man.  All  the  grains  that  fur- 
nish him  with  the  "  staff  of  life  "  are  composed  of  this  con- 
centrated food  for  the  young  plant  stored  in  the  seed. 

It  seems  entirely  probable  that  vegetable  life  was  introduced 
before  any  animal  forms  appeared,  although  geologists  have 
not  yet  been  able  to  prove  positively  that  it  was  so.  For  a 
large  part  of  the  ancient  time  no  plants  are  known  to  have 
grown  on  the  land,  only  sea  weeds  having  been  preserved. 
Plants  separate,  concentrate,  and  store  up  in  their  forms  the 
nutriment  required  by  the  animal,  and  probably  the  simplest 
possible  vegetable  growth  had  supplied  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  this  in  the  waters  when  the  first  animals  appeared.  It  was 
only  in  later  times,  after  vast  masses  of  rock  formations  had 
somewhat  cleared  the  waters  of  their  excessive  chemical  solu- 
tions, that  vegetable  substances  became  sufficiently  firm  to  be 
preserved  in  the  forming  rock  of  their  times. 

Recently  there  have  been  found  various  and  significant  traces 
of  vegetation  in  the  Azoic  rocks.  The  presence  of  carbon  in 
various  forms  is  believed  to  have  originated  in  large  part  from 
vegetable  growth,  and  the  deposit  of  vast  quantities  of  iron 
ore  along  the  southern  border  of  the  most  ancient  land  is  by 


THE    PROGRESS    OF    VEGETABLE    LIFE.  65 

soine  considered  d\ie  to  the  vegetation  of  the  marshes  of  that 
time,  the  vegetable  infusion  in  the  water  precipitating  the  iron 
oxyds  washed  down  from  the  neighboring  rocks.  Wlien  the 
conditions  suitable  for  sea  weeds  had  been  reached,  the  warm 
and  shallow  seas  pi-obably  ])roduced  an  extremely  abundant 
growth  and  served  to  nourish  the  immense  swarms  of  the 
lower  forms  of  animal  life  which  are  known  to  have  existed 
in  the  early  part  of  Palteozoic  Time. 

Much  the  larger  part  of  ancient  time  had  passed  away  before 
the  rocks  began  to  record  the  existence  of  land  2)lants.  The 
first  that  has  been  satisfactorily  distinguished  as  such  was  a 
species  of  gigantic  club  moss.  It  is  probable  that  many  varie- 
ties of  lichens  and  mosses  had  long  before  flourished  and  laid 
the  foundation  for  the  extreme!}'  profuse  vegetation  that  now 
hastened  to  make  ready  for  the  era  of  coal.  The  evidence 
seems  to  prove  that  the  higher  lands  were  not  in  a  condition 
to  support  a  profuse  vegetation,  and  that  trees  and  plants 
mostly  grew  in  marshes  or  very  near  tlie  surface  of  the  water. 

Many  of  the  plants  that  are  dwarfed  in  our  age  were  then 
of  great  size.  A  large  proportion  of  the  coal  was  made  from 
ferns  and  kindred  plants,  almost  all  being  from  the  class  of 
Cryptogams,  of  loose  structure  and  rapid  growth.  The  climate 
appears  to  have  been  about  the  same  over  all  the  globe,  for 
the  coal  beds  of  every  country  made  in  the  great  coal  period 
show  that  they  were  produced  b}'  exactly  the  same  kind  of 
forests.  The  temperature  was  evidently  much  like  that  of 
the  Torrid  Zone  of  our  day,  and  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
larger  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  composition  of 
the  air,  which  would  be  sufficient  of  itself  to  increase  the 
rapidity  and  luxuriance  of  vegetable  growth.  It  was  this 
extra  carbon  that  was  now  removed  to  be  stored  up  in  the 
earth  for  future  use. 

The   mountains  of   that    time   were    few  and  of  no  great 
height,  and  the  regions  producing  coal  were  low  and  marshy. 
The  conditions  were  therefore  favorable  for  the  rapid  produc- 
5 


66  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

tion  of  the  immense  woody  growth  that  has  produced  the 
hundred  and  hfty  thousand  square  miles  of  workable  coal  in 
the  United  States — almost  all  of  which  is  in,  or  near  the  bor- 
ders of,  the  Mississippi  Basin.  From  near  the  Atlantic  shore 
to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  some  hundreds  of  miles  beyond, 
was  a  vast  marshy  level  directly  across  the  Northern  and 
Central  Valley,  and  across  Eastern  Tennessee  into  Middle 
Alabama.  There  were  numerous  shallow  lakes  and  sluggish 
streams  flowing  mainly  from  the  noi'tli  or  northeast.  The 
shallow  water  gradually  changed  to  marsh,  and  impenetrable 
jungles  covered  the  country;  a  heavy,  hot,  stifling  air  brooded 
over  the  whole,  and  a  dense  mass  of  forest  and  marsh  vegeta- 
tion, of  which  the  human  period  gives  no  example,  accumu- 
lated the  material  for  the  coal-beds. 

This  reo-ion  was  immei'sed  under  water  and  raised  aijain  a 
multitude  of  times — in  some  places  at  least  a  hundred'.  A 
small  change  of  level  and  a  sudden  flood  from  higher  ground 
would  sweep  all  this  dense  mass  into  heaps  and  cover  it  with 
water  and  mud  before  it  could  decay.  The  great  feature  of 
this  age  of  the  world,  which  must  have  lasted  a  very  long 
time,  was  the  vegetation  and  its  sudden  burial  so  many  times 
in  succession.  Had  there  been  a  human  being  present  to 
note  this  splendor  of  development  in  the  plant  world  and 
its  repeated  ruin,  it  must  have  seemed  an  utter  confusion  and 
waste.  If  this  material,  however,  had  not  been  so  stored  up, 
one  of  the  principal  means  of  human  discipline  and  develop- 
ment would  have  failed  in  our  century  and  the  times  to  come, 
and  the  fate  of  mankind  would  have  been  greatly  changed. 

Previous  to  the  coal-making  period  in  the  last  part  of  the 
Palaeozoic,  or  ancient  time,  the  first  representatives  of  the 
second  and  higher  order  of  vegetable  forms  appeared.  The 
Phenogams  were  first  represented  by  a  tree  belonging  to  the 
Conifer  tribe,  which  includes  the  pine  and  other  cone-bearing 
trees,  and  they  flourished  to  a  considerable  extent  during  the 
coal-making  era.     Another  class,  somewhat  resembling  the 


/ 

INTRODUCTION    OF    MODERN    PLANTS.  67 

palm,  called  Cycads,  was  introduced  during  the  course  of  that 
era.  After  its  close  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  air  were 
much  changed. 

The  composition  of  the  air  was  now  different.  The  first 
mountain-making  period  came  on,  and  probably  the  climate 
was  very  materially  changed  in  temperature  thereby,  for 
raising  the  land  lowers  the  temperature  of  the  air. 

It  was  indeed  a  Ions;  time  before  the  mountain-making  was 
complete,  hut  that  accomplished,  all  the  circumstances  had 
become  so  entirely  different  that  the  old  vegetation  which 
could  not  accommodate  itself  to  the  new  relations  died  out; 
but  it  was  still  longer  before  distinctively  modern  forms  be- 
came the  ruling  feature. 

Accordingly,  the  first  series  of  rocks  after  those  of  the  coal 
formation  still  show  a  strong  likeness  in  vegetable  forms  to 
those  of  the  coal  period.  In  the  first  two  eras  of  the  Mesozoic 
that  follow  this  first  series — called  the  Permian — the  cone- 
bearing  species  of  trees  increase  and  grow  more  modern,  and 
most  of  the  older  families  represented  in  the  ccjal-beds  disap- 
pear; but  in  the  last  of  the  three  eras  of  the  luiddle  period 
the  forms  now  existing  were  very  largely  represented.  For 
the  first  time  oak,  maple,  willow,  and  other  representative 
forest  and  fruit  trees  appear.  As  anirual  life,  large  and  small, 
in  forms  similar  to  the  present,  began  to  abound  on  the  land, 
among  which  were  birds,  we  may  supjiose  that  the  seed-bear- 
ing grasses  were  also  introduced  in  that  period. 

In  the  Tertiary  there  was  a  vast  increase  in  the  variety  and 
modern  character  of  the  vegetable  forms.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Upper  Valley,  far  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  even  of  the 
Missouri,  was  covered  with  vegetation  more  or  less  luxuriant, 
for  a  sub-tropical  climate  reigned  even  far  up  toward  the 
pole.  The  rose,  the  whortleberry,  and  various  other  flower- 
ing shrubs  of  that  period  have  been  found.  The  earth  began 
to  deck  itself  in  all  the  l)eauty  of  our  present  warm  regions, 
and  insect  life  swarmed  among  the  flowers.  The  modern  era 
in  plant  life  had  fully  opened. 


68  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLKV. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  lowest  forms  of  the  lowest  class  of 
vegetable  life  were  early  developed  in  the  most  ancient  seas 
and  probably  in  extraordinary  abundance;  that  lichens  and 
mosses  probably  soon  came  to  cover  the  early  continents  to 
whicli  all  the  liigher  classes  of  the  lowest  division  of  plants — 
the  flowerless  Cryptogams — were  added  as  the  coal  period 
approached.  The  cone-bearing  trees  were  also  introduced  be- 
fore the  age  of  coal.  They  were  tlie  c>nly  representatives  of 
the  Phenogams  or  true  seed- bearing  plants,  and.  indeed,  the 
first  true  trees  of  ancient  time.  The  Cycads  were  added  in  the 
latter  part  of  tlie  coal  era.  These  were  Phenogams,  in  form 
resembling  palms,  but  fruiting  like  Conifers.  These  were 
both  among  the  lowest  of  the  higher  division  of  plants. 

Ferns,  Conifers  and  Cycads  chiefly  ruled  the  Middle  Period, 
although  the  more  perfect  modern  trees  and  plants  came  in 
before  its  close.  The  Middle  Period  is  called,  botanically,  the 
"  Age  of  Cycads,"  for  they  were  then  extremelj'  numerous, 
but  steadily  diminished  in  its  closing  ages  until  in  modern 
times  there  are  comparatively  few  and  these  are  confined  to 
tropical  regions.  With  Cenozoic  time  were  rapidly  intro- 
duced the  most  perfect  vegetable  structures  to  supplj'  the 
wants  of  ri])ening  animal  life. 

The  part  vegetable  life  has  played  in  the  processes  of  stor- 
ing the  Great  Valley  with  materials  eminently  serviceable  to 
man  has  been  therefore  large  and  most  important.  The  best 
and  largest  supplies  of  iron,  the  vegetable  kingdom  has  assisted 
to  accumulate.  It  furnished  the  base  of  supplies  to  the  animal 
life  that  has  produced  near  two  thirds  of  the  rock  in  the  Val- 
ley— the  limestones — and,  in  some  minute  forms,  called  Dia- 
toms, formed  rock  of  considerable  extent.  It  has  supplied 
much  of  the  petroleum  and  all  the  coal  with  which  the 
Valley  is  made  so  eminently  rich,  and  lias  crowned  its  long 
list  of  great  services  by  furnishing  a  surface  soil  of  unrivalled 
depth  and  value  over  the  most  of  the  wide-spreading  bowl. 
Its  modern  forests,  since  the  Glacial  period  especially,  prepared 


RELATIONS    OF    ANIMALS   AND    PLANTS.  69 

the  country  for  primitive  man,  and  give  to  civilized  man  no 
small  store  of  wealth. 

That  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  form  the  two  har- 
monious sides  of  one  system  of  life  is,  finally,  noticeable  in 
this,  that  the  life  force  in  animals  uses  the  oxygen  of  the 
atmosphere  as  the  chemical  agent  for  preparing  its  building 
material  and  rejects  carbonic  acid  gas;  while  in  vegetables 
the  contrary  is  true,  oxygen  being  rejected  and  carbonic  acid 
gas  being  stored  in  the  form  of  woody  fibre. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    VALLEY,    ANCIENT    AND    MODEKN. 

The  Life  Force  gained  many  and  important  ends  in  the 
comparatively  narrow  limits  of  the  Vegetable  Kingdom.  In 
the  plan  of  animal  life  several  principles  appeared  that  vastly 
raised  this  class  in  the  scale  of  being,  and  left  open  the  most 
wonderful  possibilities  to  progress.  In  the  very  lowest  ani- 
mals there  was  a  feeble  dawning  of  a  new  individuality  in 
sensation,  in  intelligence,  and  in  the  power  of  self-control. 
At  the  first  there  was  but  the  faintest  slimmer  of  these,  and 
sometimes  they  were  not  all  united  in  the  same  animal.  It 
is  sometimes  very  difiicult  to  tell  whether  a  structure  is  veg- 
etable or  animal,  so  slight  is  the  space  that  separates  the  most 
sensitive  organization  among  plants  from  animals  having  the 
least  vitality. 

But  sensation  was  to  be  gradually  developed  until  it  became 
exquisitely  perfect  in  the  elaborate  nervous  system  of  the 
highest  sub-kingdom  of  animals  ;  the  capacity  of  self-motion 
was  to  increase  into  the  most  remarkable  powers  of  voluntary 
physical  force;  and  intelligence  was  to  ripen  until  most  phases 
of  the  supreme  mental  attributes  and  capacities  of  man  had 
been  shadowed  forth  more  or  less  completely,  though  in  every 
case  fragmentally  and  in  limited  development;  and,  finally,  by 
a  vast  leap,  all  these  qualities  of  intelligence,  freed,  as  to  the 
race  at  large,  from  definite  limitations,  were  to  be  concentrated 
in  the  Ideal  Animal. 

There  is  a  world  of  suggestive  mystery  in  the  gradual  devel- 
opment of  the  animal  frame  until  some  of  the  animals  came 
to  possess  physical  parts  closely  resembling  man's;  and  a  still 
greater  mystery  is  the  instinct  and  intelligence  so  like,  and  so 

70 


i 


THE    FIVE    CLASSES    OF    ANIMAI,S.  71 

unlike,  man's  bestowed  on  the  different  classes  of  animals. 
In  each  animal  these  higher  gifts  are  very  perfect  so  far  as 
the  special  ends  of  its  life  can  be  served  by  them.  There  they 
cease.  A  single  strongly  marked  quality  belongs  to  each  race 
with  all  the  intelligence  necessary  to  a  successful  career  in  such 
a  character.  There  the  resemblance  ceases.  The  animal  has 
no  such  reserve  of  unused  powers  and  unlimited  capacity  of 
development,  in  a  thousand  ways,  as  are  seen  in  man.  There 
is  a  breadth  and  reserve  of  force  in  the  higlier  qualities  of  the 
man  that  destroy  the  idea  of  his  true  and  close  relationship 
to  the  animal  world.  The  most  intelligent  aninial  has  but  the 
shadow  of  the  man's  mental  compass  outside  the  range  of  its 
physical  instincts.  It  is  often  a  dense  shadow,  but,  in  the  end, 
is  nothing  more.  What  mystery  of  origin  and  destiny  lies 
behind  these  real  physical,  and  instinctive  and  shadowy  men- 
tal, relationships?  What  is  man  that  immeasurable  geological 
time  should  labor  so  strenuously  and  constantly  for  him,  and 
that  all  organized  nature  should  bear  the  broken  and  shadowy 
fragments  of  his  image  ? 

There  are  five  great  types  or  divisions  of  animal  life, 
regarded  as  to  the  plan  of  their  physical  stnicture — Pro- 
tozoans, Radiates,  Mollusks,  Articulates  and  Vertebrates. 
The  first  four  are  called  Inrertebrates.  Most  of  the  larger 
and  more  important  and  perfect  animals  belong  to  the  last 
class — Vertebrates.  The  lowest  class.  Protozoans,  are  very 
simple,  almost  formless  and  jelly-like  in  structure,  with  no 
nervous  system,  often  no  mouth  or  stomach  or  permanent 
limbs.  Whenever  these  are  required  they  are  extemporized 
for  the  occasion.  They  are  usually  extremely  minute.  They 
are  commonly'  inclosed  in  a  shell,  and  the  substance  of  the 
animal  is  protruded  to  secure  food.  The  lowest  class  of  these 
are  believed  to  have  been  introduced  the  first  of  all  animals, 
although  the  absolute  proof  seems,  as  yet,  wanting. 

The  Radiates  are  formed  on  the  plan  of  a  flower,  similar 
parts  spreading  from  a  common  center.     They  are  very  often 


72  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

permanently  attached  to  the  sea  bottom,  or  rocks,  brilliantly 
colored,  of  most  graceful  forms,  and  must  have  caused  the 
early  sea  bottoms,  when  they  were  most  numerous,  to  resem- 
ble a  flower  garden.  Many  of  the  corals  were  radiate.  Most, 
though  not  all,  were  inclosed  in  some  kind  of  shell.  They 
were  extraordinarily  numerous  in  ancient  time,  and  their  shells 
contributed  very  largely  to  the  making  of  limestone  rock. 
They  had,  for  the  most  part,  no  nervous  system,  and  their 
mouths  were  surrounded  with  tentacles,  or  a  kind  of  claw, 
with  which  they  seized  their  food. 

Mollusks  are  soft-bodied  animals,  with  a  nervous  system 
of  scattered  masses.  The  oyster  is  a  Mollusk,  a  shell  being 
essential  to  the  protection  of  the  soft  baggy  body.  They  often 
had  various  appendages,  serving  as  arms  or  feet.  They  are 
very  numerous  in  the  Palseozoic  rocks. 

Articulates  are  jointed  animals.  Crabs,  worms,  and  insects 
are  of  this  class.  The  joints  are  in  the  skin  or  covering,  the 
internal  cavities  extending  continuously  tlinnigh  all  the  joints. 
The  nervous  system  is  below  the  stomach  and  other  cavities, 
but  has  a  crans-lion,  or  bunch,  in  each  segment.  Articulates 
have  constantly  increased  in  numbers  from  their  first  appear- 
ance to  the  present  time. 

Vertebrates  have  a  jointed  internal  skeleton  with  a  continu- 
ous cavity  through  the  bones  of  the  back,  for  the  large  nervous 
cord,  and  other  cavities  for  the  various  instruments  of  a  highly 
organized  life  below  or  in  front  of  it.  In  the  vertebrates  the 
head  is  carefull}'  elaborated  and  with  more  jiains  as  the  animal 
rises  in  rank  until,  in  man,  it  fully  dominates  and  controls  the 
whole  body,  which  is  kept  as  erect  as  a  tree  on  a  very  narrow 
base,  yet  with  admirable  powers  of  locomotion.  There  are 
four  classes  of  Vertebrates — Fishes,  Reptiles,  Birds  and 
Mammals.  Fishes  are  the  lowest  class  and  have  no  lungs, 
air  bladders  .supplying  their  place,  and,  as  well  as  reptiles,  are 
cold  blooded  ;  but  reptiles  iisually  have  lungs — except  one 
division  of  them,  which  has  the  air  bladder  in  early  life  and 


THE    INTRODUCTION    OF    SPECIES.  73 

lungs  at  a  later  period.  Birds  and  mammals  are  all  warm 
blooded  and  of  a  higher  style  of  structure  and  vital  organ- 
ization. 

Protozoans,  Radiates,  Mollusks  and  Articulates  were  intro- 
duced in  very  early  geological  times,  and,  as  it  would  seem 
at  the  tirst  glance,  nearly  together;  Init  there  is  much  reason 
to  believe  that  the  first  species  whose  stony  structures  have 
been  preserved  in  the  lowest  Palaeozoic  rocks  were  preceded 
by  a  long  series  of  species  lower  in  rank,  and  whose  fragile 
shells  could  ncjt  be  preserved  in  the  metamorphic  rocks,  or  those 
which  were  very  much  transformed  by  the  great  heat  and  the 
active  chemical  forces  of  the  earlier  times.  Much  limestone 
was  found  in  those  periods,  which,  probably,  as  in  later  times, 
was  composed  chiefly  of  animal  shells,  and  a  part  of  the  car- 
bon found  in  great  quantity  in  various  forms  in  the  Azoic 
rocks  is  thought  to  have  been  produced,  partly,  at  least,  by 
the  oily  parts  of  animal  bodies. 

The  first  animal  forms  distinctly  preserved  were  of  the 
lower  classes,  but  not  from  the  very  lowest  families,  and  not 
usually  the  lowest  species  in  their  respective  families.  There 
is,  however,  no  real  exception  to  the  rule  that  a  steady  general 
progress  in  the  rank  of  animal  forms  is  found  in  the  rocks, 
from  the  lowest  that  contain  them  at  all  to  the  highest.  The 
forms  found  in  any  system  of  rocks  are  higher  in  organization 
than  in  the  system  of  rocks  ne.xt  below,  and  not  so  high  as  in 
the  system  that  follows.  All  these,  and  various  other  obser- 
vations, furnish  fairly  good  ground  for  thinking  that  ani'nal 
life  was  probably  introduced  by  its  simplest  forms  which  have 
not  been  preserved. 

Twenty  thousand  species  from  the  Palteozoic  rocks  have 
been  described.  It  is  probable  that  large  numbers  will  yet  be 
added,  and  that  multitudes  were  too  slight  in  organization  to 
be  preserved,  or  too  iinfavorably  located  to  become  known  to 
us.  Yet,  a  general  impress  was  so  distinctly  given  to  the 
whole  life  of  each  age  by  the  marked  features  belonging  to  it 


74  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

that  a  practiced  eye  can  readily  tell  from  the  sight  of  a  few 
genera  whether  they  belong  to  earlier  or  later  geological 
periods  from  the  degree  oi finish — the  coarseness  or  fineness  of 
the  workmanship.  Very  many  classes  of  the  simplest  struc- 
ture, have  been  in  existence  from  first  to  last  as  orders,  or 
great  classes,  but  the  species  have  been  many  times  changed. 
Not  a  species  now  exists  that  was  found  in  the  coal  period,  or 
before  it,  or  even  long  after  it.  The  first  division  of  recent 
time — the  Eocene — contains  but  five  per  cent  of  the  species 
now  living. 

There  was,  then,  improvement  from  age  to  age.  There 
was  a  difterence  in  the  length  of  life  of  species  and  in 
their  extent.  Some  are  found  only  in  one  particular 
deposit — the  rock  made  in  a  single  age — others  extended 
through  a  succession  of  deposits — a  number  of  ages;  some  are 
found  only  in  a  limited  region  and  others  extended  to  every 
region  whose  rocks  are  accessible  to  us.  The  introduction  of 
higher  forms,  as  time  advanced,  was  a  general  and  constant 
feature. 

Invertebrate  life  is  low  in  vital  organization,  in  physical 
structure,  and  contains  no  animals  at  all  comparable  to  the 
immense  size  of  many  of  the  later  vertebrate  animals. 
What  they  lacked  in  size,  however,  was  far  more  than  made 
up  in  numbers.  The  aqueous  rocks  of  the  Valley  average 
nearly  a  mile  in  thickness  and  more  than  two-thirds  of  them, 
perhaps,  are  the  product  of  animal  life.  How  inconceivably 
vast  must  have  been  the  number  of  animals  whose  shells 
could  produce  such  huge  results!  How  inexhaustibly  active 
has  been  the  Life  Force  !  For  it  was  that  Builder  which  se- 
creted the  lime  and  silex  in  the  shells  of  animals,  collecting 
them  from  the  water  which  held  them  in  solution.  When  the 
animals  died  the  shells  became  the  sport  of  the  waves  and  were 
mechanically  or  chemically  crumbled,  often  to  powder,  to  form 
every  kind  of  marble  and  most  other  building  stone.  The 
layers  extended,  as  a  rule,  a  vertical  mile  beneath  us. 


ANIMALS    OF    THE    ANCIENT    ROCKS.  75 

The  softer  parts  of  animals  and  many  vegetables  are  be- 
lieved to  have  produced  petroleum.  If  so,  how  inexhaustible 
may  be  the  quantity  of  that  useful  oil!  It  was,  in  large  part, 
this  organic  chemistry  which  enriched  the  soil  of  the  Valley. 
The  limestones  are  capable  of  being  reduced  to  very  fine  dust 
and  its  constituents  furnish  rich  material  for  plant  structures. 
To  animal  life  is  due  much  of  the  agricultural  wealth  of  the 
Valley. 

The  Ancient  Geological  Times  drew  on  far  toward  the  Age 
of  Goal  before  the  ereat  vertebrate  class  of  animals  had  a 
single  representative.  The  lowest  of  vertebrates,  fislies,  were 
the  first  to  appear.  The  earliest  of  this  class  that  has  been 
found  was  a  kind  of  shark  with  an  imperfect  frame,  in  that 
it  was  not  bony  but  cartilaginous.  These  first  known  species 
were  not  the  very  lowest  in  structure.  This  seems,  so  far  as  is 
yet  proven,  to  be  a  law  controlling  the  introduction  of  animals, 
and,  with  those  who  do  not  favor  the  strictest  form  of  the 
evolution  theory,  is  used  as  a  strong  argument  for  the  theory 
of  special  creation  as  opposed  to  evolution.  It  is,  however, 
supposed  by  many  that  the  lowest  forms  were  really  first 
introduced,  biit  that,  owing  to  their  having  no  hard  parts 
they  were  not  preserved.  It  is  a  question  which  can  not,  as 
yet,  be  definitely  settled. 

Fishes  became  very  numerous  before  the  coal,  but  it 
was  not  till  about  the  middle  of  tiie  Mesozoic  Time,  and 
long  after  the  Age  of  Coal,  that  bony  fishes  resembling 
modern  forms  appeared.  During  the  Age  of  Coal  the  still 
higher  class  of  reptiles  was  introduced.  The  two  divisions 
of  this  class  are  Amphibians,  which  have  gills  and  air- 
bladders,  like  fishes,  in  their  early  life,  but  pass  through  a 
singular  transformation  afterward,  develop  lungs  and  become 
air-breathing  land  animals;  and  true  reptiles  born  with  lungs 
and  having  the  air  as  their  proper  element  of  life,  though 
they  often  pass  much  of  their  time  in  water.  The  amphib- 
ians   were   first   introduced  ;    true   reptiles  were   not  found 


76  THE    MISSISSIl'I'I    VALLEY. 

till  after  the  Age  of  Goal.  The  earliest  are  known  only 
by  their  tracks  made  in  mud,  dried  afterward  by  the  sun, 
and  then  covered  and  preserved  by  another  deposit.  The 
existence  of  the  first  birds  known  is  discovered  in  the 
same  way.  These  discoveries  lend  considerable  probability 
to  the  supposition  that  the  first  animals  of  every  class  may 
really  have  been  the  lowest  of  their  order  whose  organization 
was  too  slight  be  be  preserved. 

It  thus  appears  that  no  animals  with  lungs  existed  before 
the  coal  period,  the  probable  reason  being  that  there  was  then 
too  much  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  air  to  permit  the  existence 
of  animal  life  in  it.  All  the  coal  treasured  up  during  the 
Carboniferous  Epoch  in  such  vast  quantities  is  believed  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  air  through  vegetable  growth — the  woody 
parts  of  plants  and  trees  being  chiefly  foi'med  of  carbon  re- 
ceived from  the  atmosphere.  The  air  was  purified  during  the 
coal  age  and  rendered  a  suitable  element  for  the  development 
of  land  animals.  Reptiles  are,  like  fishes,  cold-blooded,  and 
therefore  of  low  vitality,  and  could  most  easily  endure  an 
impure  atmosphere. 

It  seems  to  have  been  only  when  the  atmosphere  had  been 
purified  by  the  embodiment  and  burying  of  so  much  carbon,  and 
when  the  mountain  system  of  the  Alleghanies  had  been  raised, 
that  the  conditions  were  favorable  for  the  introduction  of  warm- 
blooded animals.  As  fishes  seemed  to  give  rise  to  reptiles  by 
insensibly  grading  oflT  certain  of  their  classes  in  that  direction, 
through  the  amphibian — living  one  half  of  its  life  as  a  fish, 
or  an  exclusively  aquatic  animal,  and  then  becoming,  by  trans- 
formation, a  land  animal — which  was  followed  by  the  related 
pure  reptile,  and  exclusively  \iind  animals — so  the  last,  or  true 
reptile,  seemed  to  give  rise  to  tribes  more  and  more  like  birds 
until  the  true  bird  appeared.  There  is  really  much  to  inti- 
mate that  the  succession  of  life  has  been  a  grand  chain  from 
first  to  last;  and,  if  the  links  in  many  cases  do  not  actually 
interlock,  there    are    many   apparent    reasons  for  supposing 


THE    AGE    OF    REPTILES.  77 

that  they  did  so  in  reality.  At  the  same  time  the  apparent 
suddenness  uf  very  great  clianges  in  lit'e-tbrins  shows,  accord- 
ing to  many  men  of  science,  indications  of  another  and  deeper 
Law  of  Introduction  not  yet  firmly  grasped.  There  is  much 
that  is  now  inexplainable  on  botli  sides. 

Mesozoic,  or  middle,  time  was  made  remarkable  by  its  vast 
numbers  of  reptiles  and  their  huge  and  monstrous  forms.  It 
is  called,  in  reference  to  animal  life,  the  Age  of  Reptiles. 
They  were  sometimes  eighty  feet  in  length.  There  were  mon- 
strous sea-serpents,  and  a  great  variety  of  reptiles  twenty  to 
fifty  feet  in  length,  that  sported  about  the  sea-shores,  that 
roamed  over  the  land,  the  terror  of  other  animals  that  often 
became  their  prey,  or  that  fed  on  the  foliage  of  trees.  Others 
liad  immense  wings  like  the  bat.  The  evidence  appears  to 
show  that  the  lands  were  covered  with  verdure  and  swarmed 
with  animal  life,  of  which  it  is  probable  comparatively  few 
specimens  have  been  preserved  in  the  Valley. 

Many  of  these  monster  reptiles  have  been  preserved  in  the 
then  rock-making  regions  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The 
types,  however,  are  the  same  in  all  lands;  for,  until  after  the 
greater  mountain-making  era,  a  warm-temperate  or  sub- 
tropical climate  reigned  far  w'lthin  the  Arctic  Circle,  and 
great  quantities  of  coal  were  made  there  and  in  various  parts 
of  the  earth.  The  ancient  genera  and  species  of  the  animals 
of  the  sea  had  disappeared  under  the  changed  conditions,  but 
more  modern  forms,  for  the  most  part,  took  their  places, 
although  some  classes  quite  disappeared.  There  was  a  great 
development  of  insects,  and  birds,  chiefly  aquatic  species, 
became  numerous,  while,  about  the  middle  of  the  Mesozoic, 
the  class  of  vertebrates  to  which  man  belongs,  mammals,  or 
those  that  suckle  their  young,  appeared.  These  gradually 
increased  and  became  quite  numerous  toward  the  close  of 
Mesozoic  time,  while  reptiles  as  steadily  decreased  and  passed 
over  but  few  of  their  representatives  to  the  Cenozoic,  or 
liecent  Period. 


& 


78  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

From  the  opening  of  that  period  there  was  a  steady  and 
rapid  modernizing  of  animal  life  in  keeping  witli  the  general 
approach  to  present  conditions  of  continents,  seas,  and  the" 
atmosphere.  Vast  quantities  of  coal  were  magazined  from 
the  carbonic-acid  gas  of  the  atmosphere  just  before  the  Rocky 
Mountains  were  raised,  or  during  that  process,  and  the  air  was 
fitted  to  nourish  higher  and  more  intense  forms  of  life.  The 
shores  of  the  Gulf  abounded  in  immense  whales,  and  in  the 
rocks  of  the  Western  Valley  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  and  many 
other  huge  animals,  which  yet  approached  modern  types,  are 
found.  One  of  the  most  interesting  is  the  horse,  which  com- 
mences in  the  Eocene,  or  opening  period  of  Recent  Time,  as 
small  as  Sifox,  and  \\\t\i  four  toes.  As  time  passes  the  horse 
becomes  larger,  till  it  is  gigantic,  and,  one  by  one,  loses  its 
toes  till  but  one  remains,  the  nail  of  which  expands  into  the 
hoof  as  we  now  find  it.  It  is  an  interesting  revelation  of 
gradual  changes  of  form  and  quality.  At  the  same  time  there 
flourished  in  the  Valley  hyenas,  wolves,  tigers,  panthers, 
tapirs,  hogs,  camels,  lamas,  deer,  hares,  squirrels,  beavers, 
and  many  other  ancestors  of  modern  animals  of  almost  every 
class. 

After  the  Glacial  Period  many  of  these  disappeared  from 
the  western  continent.  It  is  somewhat  curious  to  note 
that  many  plants  and  animals  that  first  appeared  in  North 
America  appear  in  the  next  age  and  group  of  rocks  of 
the  Old  World,  as  if  this  was  at  some  periods  the  Old  World 
which  colonized  Europe  as  the  then  Neio  World.  There  has 
been  found  reason  to  believe  that  the  first  land  was  raised 
along  the  north  of  the  Valley;  the  Alleghanies  are  thought 
to  be  the  oldest  of  the  large  mountain-ranges;  and  probably 
the  upper  part  of  the  Valley  east  of  the  Missouri  was  the 
most  extensive  region  whose  rock-making  and  general  struct- 
ure was  completed  immediately  after  the  Age  of  Coal.  It 
would  not,  therefore,  be  surprising  if  it  was  ready  for  the 
habitation  of  some  classes  of  animals  before  Europe,  which 


M. 


MAN    THE    IDEAL    ANIMAX,.  79 

continued  to  pass  through  important  changes  until  late  in 
geological  time.  Yet  many  of  these  aujmals,  after  a  long 
career  here,  wholly  disappeared  while  still  continuing  in 
Europe. 

When  the  Glacial  Period  came  on  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
that  the  higher  land  animals  retreated  southward  before  it, 
aiul  many  of  them  survived  it  to  perish  before  man  could  be 
benefited  by  them — as  the  horse,  reindeer,  and  others.  The 
animal  kingdom  continued,  however,  to  be  represented  by 
huge  and  powerful  animals,  and  to  raise  some  of  its  classes  in 
the  scale  of  organization  till  man  appeared.  He  was  the  Ideal 
Animal.  Their  progress  had  ever  been  (it  is  not  proven  how) 
from  feeble  to  lively  sensation ;  from  few  and  confused  parts 
and  small  measures  of  energy  to  many  and  highly  elaborated 
sets  of  powers;  from  a  few  scattered  fascicles  of  nerves  to  the 
extensive  and  well-protected  system  of  the  vertebrates;  and 
the  prone  bod}^  and  barrel  form  of  the  fish  was  soon  excelled 
by  a  more  and  more  ei-ect  head,  while  the  \ong  posterior  body 
was  shortened  until  only  legs  were  left,  while  all  the  noble 
vital  organs  were  raised  in  power  and  crowded  into  the  front 
until  the  head  was  raised  perpendicularly  above  them,  and  the 
fore  legs  were  no  longer  instruments  of  locomotion  but  ser- 
vants of  the  brain. 

This  uprightness,  with  the  face  and  forehead  on  a  perpen- 
dicular line  with  the  front  of  the  body,  reached  the  limit  of 
possible  improvement  in  the  frame,  while  the  intelligence  of 
man  joined  all  the  instincts  and  limited  perceptions  and 
passions  of  all  the  animal  world  in  one  mind,  with  undefined 
and  fairly  unlimited  possibilities  of  power  and  growth,  to 
which  was  added  a  class  of  faculties  constituting  his  hig-hest 
value — moral  powers — the  love  of  virtue  and  truth.  As  there 
can  be  no  nobler  frame  in  the  animal  world,  so  there  can  be 
no  being  essentially  greater  than  man,  in  his  highest  and 
peculiar  gifts,  unless  by  an  expansion  of  the  same  qualities. 
There  was  greater  intelligence  and  power  in  the  Principle 


80  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALI.EV. 

that  planned  and  produced  the  world,  but  since  man  can 
comprehend  the  work  he  must  be  of  the  same  nature  as  the 
Workman. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

GENEEAX    VIEW    OF    TRE    FINISHED    VALLEY. 

We  have  seen  how  heat  and  the  loss  of  heat  provided  tlie 
inconceivable  force  in  the  crust  of  the  earth  required  for  the 
immense  changes  of  every  geological  age.  The  easiness  of 
the  power  is  very  evident,  as  also  is  the  restraint  laid  on  it. 
It  was,  so  to  speak,  tamed  and  made  to  work  in  harness. 
AVhat  it  has  done  shows  how  easily  it  could  have  become  a 
destroyer  instead  of  a  builder.  Yet  it  worked  slowly,  cau- 
tiously, never  getting  ahead  of  its  chemical,  mechanical,  and 
organic  associates.  Chemical  attractions  and  repulsions  made 
and  unmade  rocks,  and  stored  up  minerals  at  the  jioints  where 
the  forethought  that  guided  volcanic  force  and  the  power 
arising  fi'om  contraction  designated,  winds  and  waves,  sun 
and  storm,  torrent  and  gravity  made  rock  in  the  proper  places, 
and  the  Life  Force  worked  with  unflagging  zeal  in  vegetable 
and  animal  to  supply  the  most  useful  rocks  and  to  store  the 
richest  treasures.  Finally,  cold  came  to  do  a  most  important 
surface  work  and  then  retired,  leaving  the  slow  falling  and 
rising  of  the  levels,  the  waters,  dews,  rains,  and  the  sun  to 
re-arrange  the  drift,  vital  energy  to  re-people  it  with  animal 
and  vegetable  life,  and  present  it  finished  to  man  when  he 
should  appear. 

We  have  now  to  observe- its  general  features  as  completed. 
From  north  to  south  the  extreme  of  its  length  is  about  2,000 
miles;  the  extreme  descent  through  its  center  in  that  distance 
being  a  little  over  1,600  feet.  The  descent  is  nowhere  very 
abrupt,  although  about  three  fourths  of  it  are  accomplished  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  Valley,  from  the  head  of  the  Mississippi 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri.  The  very  gradual  fall  from 
6  '  81 


82  THE    MISSISSIPPI    TALLET. 

that  point  to  the  Gulf  is  one  of  the  most  important  features 
of  the  Valley. 

Its  extreniest  width,  from  the  heights  of  the  eastern  water- 
shed to  the  crest  of  the  Kocky  Mountains,  is  not  far  from 
1,600  miles.  The  western  rim  of  the  bowl  is  much  the 
highest  ;  about  2,000  feet  in  general  along  the  east,  though 
considerably  higher  in  some  places  and  lower  in  others;  while 
the  head  waters  of  the  Missouri  are  nearly  7,000  feet  high  ; 
those  of  the  Arkansas,  10,000  ;  and  of  the  Red  River  about 
2,500.  The  descent  on  the  w-est  is  very  gradual,  forming,  for 
the  most  part,  vast  grassy  plains,  on  which  the  steady  change 
of  level,  though  so  great  on  the  whole,  is  scarcely  perceptible 
to  the  eye.  On  the  east,  the  region  inward  from  the  moun- 
tains is  much  more  broken,  and,  in  part  of  West  Virginia, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  a  ridge  of  mountain  is  thrown  west- 
ward, so  that  a  northward  slope  is  made  to  meet  the  general 
southward  descent,  in  the  bed  of  the  Ohio.  It  is  a  ridge  across 
the  eastern  center  of  the  bowl  which  has  prevented  the  ex- 
treme "  washing  "  of  the  surface  that  has  taken  place  west  of 
the  Missouri  on  the  "Plains." 

The  whole  of  the  united  basins  of  the  great  central  river 
and  its  branches,  together  with  adjoining  sections  that  naturally 
annex  themselves  to  it  by  position  and  relations,  cover  an  area 
of  about  1,800,000  scpuire  miles — about  the  size  of  Europe 
without  its  colder  and  almost  worthless  northern  regions  and 
the  poorer  parts  of  Russia  further  south.  The  actual  basins  of 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  cover  an  area  of  1,25(),0()0 
square  miles — it  is  often  stated  at  1,2-14,000,  but  that  omits  the 
delta.  The  adjoining  and  affiliated  sections  are  the  basin  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  which  only  a  few  feet  of  soil  prevents  from  pour- 
ing its  waters  into  the  Mississippi,  as  it  formerly  actually  did; 
the  basin  of  the  Red  River  of  the  North;  and  the  Gulf  coast, 
including  the  Valley  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and,  therefore,  all  of 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  Colorado,  with  large  parts  of  the 
Territories  further  north.     The  length  of  the  main  river  and 


THE    GREAT    RIVER    AND    ITS    BRANCHES. 


83 


its  subordinate  streams,  the  height  of  their  head- waters  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  area  of  their  basins,  with  some 
other  facts,  are  given  in  the  following  table  from  Humphrey's 
and  Abbot's  "  Report  to  the  Government  on  the  Physics 
and  Hydraulics  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver." 


Disch'rge 

Distance 

Height 

Width 

Downfall 

of  water 

Area  of 

from 

above 

at 

of 

from 

BasiD. 

mouth. 

sea. 

mouth. 

rain. 

mouth 
per  eec. 

SQUARE 

MILES. 

FEET. 

FEET. 

INCHES. 

CtJBlC  FT. 

MILES. 

Upper  Mississippi... 

1,330 

1,680 

5,000 

35.3 

105,000 

169.000 

Missouri 

2,908 

6,800 

8,000 

20.9 

120,000 

518,000 

Ohio 

1,365 
1,514 

1,649 
10,000 

3,000 
1,500 

41.5 
29.3 

158,000 
63,000 

214,000 

Arl^ansas 

189,000 

Red  River... 

1,200 

3,450 

800 

39.0 

57,000 

97,000 

Yazoo. 

500 

310 

850 

46.3 

43,000 

13,850 

St.  Francis 

380 
1.286 

1,1S0 
416 

700 
3,470 

41.1 

31,000 
675,000 

10,500 

Lower  Mississippi... 

Several    small    direct 

tributaries 

33,500 

Delta  of  Mississippi 

below  mouth  of  Rd 

River. 

13,500 

This  grand  network  of  rivers  supplies  an  internal  navigation 
by  steamboats  of  near  9,000  miles.  The  main  stream  is  navi- 
gable from  its  mouth  to  St.  Paul  by  large  steamers — 1,944  miles 
— and  beyond  St.  Anthony's  Falls  SO  miles  further,  with  350 
miles,  on  its  branches  in  Minnesota  and  220  miles  on  the 
Illinois  River.  The  Ohio  is  navigable  to  Pittsburgh,  975 
miles  and  that  distance  is  about  doubled  by  including  the 
capacity  of  its  branches.  The  Missouri  is  navigable  almost 
2,000  miles,  and  in  high  water  600  more.  The  Arkansas  and 
the  Red  Rivers  are  navigable  several  hundred  miles  and  the 
distance  is  doubled  in  high  water.  Several  other  streams  add 
many  hundreds  of  miles  to  navigation. 

The  regions  of  the  Valley  so  reached  are  the  fairest  and 
richest  for  farming  and  mercantile  purposes.  The  eastern 
and  central  parts  of  the  Valley  are  extremely  well  watered, 
and  the  shore-line  of  the  Great  Lakes,  the  Gulf  shore,  and 
navigable  streams  emptying  into  it,  altogether  furnish  for  the 


84  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

A^alley  basin  commercial  waterways  fully  15,000  miles  in 
letiyth.  The  basin  of  the  Missouri  includes  nearly  five 
twelfths  of  the  surface  drained  by  this  network  of  streams, 
and  it  contains  some  of  the  best,  as  also  of  tlie  poorest,  land 
in  the  whole  Valley. 

Tiie  Gulf  Slo])e,  or  the  Lower  Basin,  except  the  immediate 
basins  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  branches,  failed  of  the  special 
provision  made  for  the  upper  basin;  the  drift  is  largely  con- 
fined to  the  northern  and  central  regions.  Yet  the  rock  under- 
lying the  Gulf  States  is  nearly  the  latest  made,  and  therefore 
softer,  as  a  rule,  than  that  formed  in  earlier  times;  its  climate 
forces  vegetation  m<jre,  and  therefore  secures  more  vegetable 
mould  in  proportion,  while  its  long  productive  seasons  and 
more  equable  heat  give  it  a  monopoly  of  many  rare  and  val- 
uable products.  It  is  also  more  abundantly  furnished  with 
moisture  than  most  other  parts  of  the  Valley. 

About  two  thirds  of  the  whole  area  lie  west  of  the  central 
stream;  about  one  half  of  that  region  has  incomparable  ad- 
vantages in  soil,  climate,  and  situation,  leaving  nearly  one 
third  of  the  whole  area  of  the  Valley  less  favored  in  the  same 
way.  But  tiiis  varies  largely,  nearly  all  of  it  having  2>ossi- 
hilities  of  a  high  order,  which  will  be  ultimately  developed. 
A  portion  of  the  entire  surface,  jirobably  equal  to  the  whole 
of  Europe — Russia,  Norway  and  Sweden  excepted — is  beyond 
measure  rich  in  agricultural  capabilities. 

From  the  Missouri  River  westward  are  treeless  ])lains.  Fijr 
six  hundred  miles  Eastward  of  that  river  in  the  upjier  valley 
there  is  a  large  i^roportion  of  jirairie;  foi-ests  naturally  grow- 
ing only  in  rare  spots  and  bordering  streams.  There  has  been 
much  speculation  as  to  the  causes  of  this  natural  treelessness. 
The  level  or  rolling  eastern  prairies,  at  least,  were  foi'med  by 
the  drift  which  filled  up  and  evened  off"  the  inequalities  of  the 
rocky  foundation  of  the  Valley.  Over  this  region,  or  large 
parts  of  it,  shallow  lakes  continued  for  long  periods,  and  after 
a  time  for  a  large  part  of  the  year  the  water  in  them  was  stag- 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    TREELESS    PRAIRIES.  85 

nant,  vegetation  of  the  kind  peculiar  to  such  ponds  rapidly 
filled  them  up  and  formed  a  deep  soil,  or  loam.  The  inequal- 
ities now  peculiar  to  the  surface,  were  due  partly  to  the  under- 
lying rock,  partly  to  the  unequal  force  of  the  currents  distrib- 
uting the  drift,  perhaps  partly,  where  the  rolling  is  regular, 
to  the  measured  motion  and  rush  of  waves  on  a  large  and 
moderately  shallow  inland  sea  stirred  by  powerful  winds,  but 
perhaps  more  to  the  action  of  the  waters  in  draining  off,  or  to 
subsequent  flood  by  the  rains  and  melting  snows,  as  is  very 
distinctly  shown  by  the  ravines  formed  by  the  rush  of  water 
or  gradual  washing  between  high  and  lower  levels. 

It  is  believed  by  some  that  the  soil  of  the  prairies  was  so 
largely  formed  in  this  way  under  stagnant  water,  as  to  contain 
qualities — chiefly  acids  of  various  kinds — unfavorable  to  the 
growth  of  trees,  and  that  they  can  only  take  root  and  flourish 
in  it  after  it  has  been  opened  by  cultivation  to  the  air,  or  when 
they  have  been  expelled  by  washing  and  drying  in  the  course 
of  many  centuries  under  favorable  circumstances.  Therefore, 
they  remain  treeless  until  a  forest  growth  is  introduced  and 
cared  for  by  man.  Others  find  the  cause  in  the  degree  of 
fineness  to  which  the  material  of  the  soil  has  been  reduced, 
and  see  confirmation  of  the  theory  in  the  growth  of  timber  on 
pebbly  knolls  and  on  the  uneven  lands  bordering  streams,  or 
in  the  bottoms  kept  damp  and  light  by  vicinity  to  moisture 
but  where  water  does  not  lie  long  enough  to  pack  it  hard 
and  smother  the  roots  of  trees.  Others  have  believed  prairies 
to  be  caused  by  the  annual  fires  made  by  the  Indians  for  cen- 
turies past. 

None  of  these  theories  appear  capable  of  explaining  all  the 
facts,  although  it  is  highly  probable  that  each  has  its  place  and 
degree  of  influence  in  the  absence  of  forest  vegetation  from  so 
large  a  part  of  the  Valley.  A  more  general  and  powerful  cause 
has  been  looked  for  to  explain  the  treelessness  of  large  regions  on 
every  continent.  The  course  of  mountain  chains,  and  their 
relations   to   the  cloud-bearing  currents  of  the  atmosphere 


86  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

appear  to  furnish  this  general  principle.  Accordingly,  gen- 
eral fertility,  forest  regii)ns,  and  deserts,  depend  oii  the  loca- 
tion of  mountains  and  their  eiiect  on  atmospheric  currents 
that  take  up  and  distribute  the  vapors  of  the  sea. 

The  mountains  of  the  west  coast  of  the  United  States,  ris- 
ing high  and  cool  into  the  air  and  above  the  clouds,  condense 
the  vapors  that  form  them,  and,  for  the  most  part,  little  rain 
from  the  Pacific  falls  east  of  the  first,  or  most  westerly,  range 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  eastern  and  central  parts  of  the  United  States  are 
therefore  supplied  with  moisture  from  the  Atlantic,  and  the 
larger  measure  of  this  comes  from  the  Trade  Winds — steady 
currents  that  blow  across  from  Africa — within  or  near  the 
tropics.  These  winds  enter  the  opening  between  North  and 
South  America,  and  are  neither  deprived  of  their  moisture  by 
the  low  range  of  mountains  in  Central  America,  nor  permitted 
to  pass  across  into  the  Pacific  except  in  part.  Their  general 
direction  is  changed  by  the  form  of  the  continent  there  and 
the  current  is  set  northeastward.  Taking  up  large  quantities 
of  moisture  from  the  Gulf  they  spread  over  the  low-lying 
Valley,  which  opens  itself  in  that  direction  to  receive  them. 

The  shores  of  the  Gulf  are  heavily  watered,  and  the  central 
stream  of  rain-laden  currents  sets  broadly  in  the  general  di- 
rection of  the  Alleghanies,  nearly  northeast.  Eastern  Texas 
and  part  of  Arkansas  are  well  watered,  but  the  western  line  of 
the  heavy  rainfall  crosses  the  Mississippi  and  Western  Ken- 
tucky into  Indiana.  As  the  rain  clouds  thin  out  more  and 
more  toward  the  west  of  the  Valley,  so  do  the  natural  ]irairies 
increase.  Illinois  has  a  large  increase  on  Western  Indiana, 
they  increase  westward  in  Iowa  and  Eastern  Nebraska,  and  at 
length  only  the  narrowest  strip  of  forest  is  found  on  the 
plains  along  the  streams,  and  even  these  almost  entirely  dis- 
appear before  the  mountains  are  reached. 

As  this  general  principle  accounts  for  the  large  amount  of 
moisture  in  South  America,  as  also  for  its  treeless  Llanos  and 


i. 
1 
i 


THE    KAINFALL    IN    DIFFERENT    SECTIONS.  87 

Pampas,  tlie  Steppes  of  Russia  and  Siberia,  and  the  Deserts 
of  Asia,  Africa  and  Australia,  it  may  be  considered  a  true 
one.  It  is  confirmed  very  emphatically  by  the  measure  of  the 
rainfall  in  different  parts  of  the  Valley.  The  table  of  rainfall 
for  the  subordinate  basins  of  the  Mississippi  shows  that  the 
Valley  of  the  Ohio  receives,  on  the  average,  more  than  twice 
as  mnch  as  that  of  the  Missouri.  Tt  it  qnite  certain  that  the 
character  of  the  soil  has  something  to  do  with  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  prairie  and  timber  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  even 
the  Missouri,  yet  it  seems  an  incidental  influence  compared 
with  the  more  determining  and  decisive  point  of  the  average 
measure  of  rainfall. 

There  is,  also,  as  the  rain  thins  out  westward,  an  increasing 
inequality  of  rain  (as  an  average)  for  the  different  seasons  of 
the  year.  The  law  regulating  the  winds  and  the  clouds  (the 
details  of  which  would  be  too  lengthy  for  this  place)  cause 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  rains  that  fall  on  the  Western 
prairies,  or  "  plains,"  to  occur  in  Spring  and  Summer  when 
most  needed  for  herbage  and  agriculture.  A  nearly  even  dis- 
tribution for  each  season,  as  in  the  Atlantic  regions,  would  be 
fatal  to  agricultural  success.  A  favorable  form  of  the  struc- 
ture of  New  Mexico  and  Colorado  increases  the  amount  of 
moisture  they  receive. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  form  of  the  Valley  and  its 
relations  to  the  Gnlf  of  Mexico,  the  high  relief  of  the  coast 
of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  and  the  relations  of  the 
Gulf  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  have  a  most  important  influence 
on  its  winds  and  rainfall,  and  thereby  on  the  remarkable  fruit- 
fulness  of  its  soil.  The  general  course  of  the  winds  during 
the  productive  months  of  tlie  year  from  the  South,  or  warmer 
latitudes,  also  gives  a  semi-tropical  character  to  the  climate 
of  the  Valley  far  to  the  North,  and  extends  the  productive 
regions  of  the  interior  of  the  continent  almost  into  the  center 
of  British  America.  The  depression  in  that  direction  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean  also  renders  the  Winters  more  severe,  while  it 
extends  further  South  the  region  of  the  most  useful  grains. 


88  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Most  of  the  relations  of  the  Valley,  within  and  without, 
are  admirable.  Its  farthest  extremities  are  brought  into  rela- 
tion with  the  center  and  the  South  by  the  Missouri  and  Ohio; 
the  long  string  of  the  Great  Lakes  connects  much  of  its  most 
fruitful  region  with  the  East  by  the  break  of  the  mountain 
chains  in  New  York,  and  the  Gulf  gives  still  more  perfect 
and  immediate  commercial  relations  with  the  outside  world. 
The  southern  Valley  is  compensated  for  its  failure  to  receive 
a  general  covering  of  the  valuable  drift  by  its  greater  humidity 
and  warmth  and  excellent  commercial  position,  while  the  cen- 
tral and  northern  parts  are  indemnified  i'ur  their  isolation  in 
the  center  of  the  continent  by  their  extraordinary  fertility, 
singularly  favorable  climate  and  double  system  of  waterways, 
and  their  vast  levels  invite  the  extraordinary  development  of 
railways  they  have  recently  received. 

With  these  favorable  circumstances  is  joined  another  of 
singular  consequence  to  the  speedy  unfolding  of  all  its 
advantages;  an  unusual  readiness  to  open  its  various  sources 
of  wealth  in  all  their  magnitude.  The  seasons  are  long  and 
the  climate  favorable  to  perfection  of  vegetable  growth,  while 
the  evenness  of  the  surface,  the  softness  of  the  soil  and  its 
freedom  to  so  large  an  extent  from  forests,  promote  speedy, 
excellent  and  large  i-eturns  to  the  agriculturist.  Its  minerals 
lie  at  once  near  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and,  usually,  near  the 
readiest  and  cheapest  means  of  transport.  Various  favorable 
conditions  invite  and  reward  enterprise  in  industry,  manufac- 
tures and  commerce  to  a  degree  unknown  together  in  any  other 
section  of  the  world.  Nature  is  here  in  her  freest  and  most 
open-handed  mood  from  whatever  point  she  is  viewed. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   MINERAL    TREASUKES    OF    THE    VALLEY. 

The  highest  kind  of  power  known  to  us  is  that  which  belongs 
to  mind;  that  which  organizes  matter  into  living  forms  and 
so  confers  on  it  new  offices  and  capabilities,  is  next  lower, 
lieneath  which  is  the  power  residing  in  chemical  attraction 
and  repulsion;  the  mechanical  force  or  weight  of  matter — 
which  measures  the  power  of  the  attraction  called  gravitation 
— being  the  lowest.  Intelligence  has  evidently  superintended 
the  operation  of  the  lower  forms  of  power,  from  first  to  last, 
and  probably  they  are  merely  the  modes  in  which  the  Supreme 
Intelligence  displays  its  energy. 

The  earth  has  ever  been  a  vast  chemical  laboratory.  Mental 
and  organic  powers  are  scarcely  more  wonderful  or  mysterious 
than  chemical  force,  and  they  seem  dependent  on  it,  in  some 
form,  for  each  of  their  innumerable  manifestations.  It  is  to 
this  active  agent  and  its  extraordinary  properties  that  the  vast 
mineral  accumulations  of  the  Valley  are  due.  It  has  acted 
with  the  gi-eatest  vigor  where  heat  and  moisture  were  abund- 
ant, and  therefore  its  most  stupendous  deeds  were  accom- 
plished in  the  early  ages  of  the  World,  when  the  crust  was 
thin,  when  the  internal  heat  of  the  earth  could  make  itself 
powerfully  felt  on  the  surface,  and  while  the  surface  of  the 
Valley  was  largely  covered  with  water.  The  largest  amount 
of  mineral  stores  was  usually  accumulated  at  the  point  where 
these  two  elements  met. 

Most  of  the  metals  have  been  collected  in  large  quantities 
by  means  of  water  heated  by  volcanic,  or  by  chemical,  forces 
and  therefore  along  the  lines  where  volcanic  energies  broke 
out.     Yet.  the  largest  accumulations  of  iron,  the  production 

89 


90  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

of  coal  and  perhaps  of  lead,  did  not  re(|uire,  apparently,  any 
great  degree  of  volcanic  heat  for  tlieir  immediate  deposit. 
Hei'e  the  more  remote  and  gradual  operations  of  heat  led  to 
the  final  result.  Chemistry,  as  well  as  vital  force,  has  had  a 
graduated  development  to  a  certain  e.xtent.  It  had  its  special 
periods  for  the  accomplishment  of  various  tasks.  Kocksof  a 
certain  composition  could  only  be  produced  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, and  different  classes  of  metals  must  wait  their 
turn  to  be  gathered  in  large  masses.  There  was  a  constant 
succession  of  services  performed  by  chemistry  for  our  Valley 
through  the  geological  ages. 

Iron  is  diffused  very  widely  and  abundantly  through  the 
rocks  under  many  combinations.  It  is  thought  by  some  that 
the  proportion  is  still  larger  in  the  center  of  the  earth  and 
even  that  it  may  constitute  two  thirds  of  the  mass  of  the 
earth.  The  composition  of  the  meteors — mostly  iron — that 
have  reached  the  earth  from  other  spheres  suggests  this  view, 
in  which  ease  the  earth  may  be  considered  as  hallasted  with 
iron,  and  to  have  embodied  in  its  true  crust  the  larger  quantity 
of  its  various  other  and  lighter  mineral  substances. 

Iron  was  specially  abundant  in  the  Azoic  and  primary  rocks 
and  the  largest  and  purest  beds  date  from  that  time.  It  is 
thought  that  beds  of  iron  are  always  due  to  the  chemical 
action  of  decomposed  vegetable  matter.  The  deposits  of 
iron  now  being  made  are  all  accomplished  in  this  way  and  it 
seems  probable  that  it  has  always  been  done  in  the  same  man- 
ner, and  that  masses  of  this  metal  are  both  the  evidence  and 
the  measure  of  the  vegetation  of  the  time  and  place  of  deposit. 
In  this  case  evidence  would  be  furnished  of  an  extreme 
abundance  of  plant  life  on  what  have  been  usually  called 
the  Azoic  rocks.  The  largest  beds  of  iron  known,  and  of  a 
purity  and  excellence  nowhere  surpassed,  lie  along  the  south 
slu)re  of  Lake  Superior.  They  are  in  the  group  of  rocks 
formed  immediately  before  the  first  of  those  known  as  Palas- 
ozoic,  which  contain  the  first  well-preserved  forms  of  ancient 


THE    lEON    ORES    OF    THE    VALI-EY.  91 

aiiinialg.     At  that  time  this  region  was  the  soutliern  shore 
]ine  of  the  early  continent. 

Iron  v/as  more  abundant,  or  more  concentrated,  in  the  early 
or  Archffian  rocks,  and'  probably  the  vegetation  of  the  time 
was  chiefly  seaweeds,  lichens  and  possibly  the  coarse  vegeta- 
tion of  marshes.  The  rains  and  streams  leached  out  and 
waslied  down  the  iron  of  the  surface  rock  of  the  land  nnder 
various  combinations,  and  the  decaying  vegetation  of  thebogsl 
and  marshes  of  the  shore  caused  it  to  be  deposited  in  great 
abundance  and  purity  at  these  points.  It  is  said  to  equal  in 
quality  the  best  ores  of  tJie  Old  World,  while  the  largest  single 
deposits  of  that  continent  would  be  mere  patches  compared 
to  the  extent  of  this.  The  area  of  the  Lake  Superior  mine> 
is  about  1.50  miles  in  length  from  east  to  west  by  a  varj'ing 
breadth  of  from  six  to  seventy  miles.  Stretching  along  the 
shore  of  the  lake  the  ore  is  peculiarly  well  situated  for  cheap 
and  easy  transport  to  the  vicinity  of  the  best  and  most 
abundant  coals  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania. 

Iron,  apparently  of  the  same  age,  is  largely  developed  in 
Missouri — the  ver}'  center  of  the  Valley,  and  not  distant  from 
suitable  coals  for  working  it.  Iron  of  this  age  is  also  found 
in  Arkansas,  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  Beds  of  it 
formed  in  various  ages,  and  especially  in  the  great  Coal  Age, 
are  found  in  most  parts  of  the  country  and  very  frequently  in 
the  neighborhood  of  coal  areas.  Although  not  60  pure  or  so 
high  in  quality,  it  serves  ordinary  purposes  well  and  is  obtained 
and  worked  at  a  minimum  of  expense. 

The  use  of  iron  is  a  measure  of  comparative  civilization 
and  enter])rise.  The  iron  of  the  Valley  is  far  more  important 
and  useful  to  it  than  all  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  the  whole 
world  would  be.  Tlie  abundance  of  this  valuable  ore  indicates 
the  high  rank  this  region  is  to  take  as  a  leader  of  future 
civilization. 

The  first  group  of  rocks  that  contain  animal  remains  hold 
veins  of  copper  of  great  purity  and  unusual  abundance  in  the 


92  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Lake  Superior  regions.  This  metal  appears  to  have  been  col- 
lected in  the  cracks  of  the  rocks  under  the  influence  of  heat 
and  certain  chemical  conditions.  It  is  found  in  smaller  quan- 
tity in  Tennessee.  The  Valley  now  furnishes  a  much  larger 
quantity  than  is  required  for  use  in  this  country. 

Still  higher  series  of  the  ancient  rocks  contain  lead  which 
is  found  in  large  quantities  in  a  wide  region  covering  corners 
of  the  States  of  Wisconsin,  Illinois  and  Iowa  and  also  in  Mis- 
souri. Its  deposit  was  not,  apparently,  due  to  volcanic  action, 
but  a  special  chemical  condition  of  the  time  and  regions 
caused  it  to  collect  or  crystallize  in  the  fissures  of  certain 
rocks.  Great  quantities  of  hard,  beautiful  and  useful  build- 
ing stone,  mainly  from  various  limestone  formations,  follow 
in  the  ascending  series  and  are  very  abundant  for  all  common 
purposes  through  the  upper  Valley. 

About  midway  between  the  earliest  Palieozoic  rocks  and 
those  belonging  to  the  Carboniferous,  or  Coal-making  Age, 
lie  the  series  of  formations  in  which  was  stored  vast  quan- 
tities of  salt.  All  this  is  not  confined,  however,  to  one  group 
of  rocks.  In  different  countries  it  has  been  made  in  difterent 
ages  and  the  process  is  still  going  on  in  some  places.  It  is 
only  necessary  that  sea- water  be  confined  in  a  bed  so  shallow 
that  it  may  evaporate,  when  it  deposits  its  salt.  If  this  occur 
on  the  sea  margin  where,  in  high  tides  and  storms,  the  salt 
water  may  bte  forced  in  now  and  then  to  evaporate  as  before, 
or  if  there  is  a  very  slow  sinking  of  the  surface  for  a  long 
period  to  furnish  occasional  supplies  to  the  salt-flat,  very  large 
quantities  may  be  treasured  up.  When  this  is  covered  with 
formations  of  other  rock,  it  is  preserved. 

If  the  salt  was  not  formed  under  conditions  to  crystallize  it 
into  rock  and  the  overlying  formations  are  porous  and  admit 
water  to  it,  salt  springs  are  formed.  The  salt-bearing  rocks 
of  Michigan  cover  17,000  square  miles.  These  are  found  in 
Kentucky,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  Valley,  so  that  there  is 
an  abundant  supply. 


SUPPLIES   OF    PETEOLEUII    AND    COAL.  93 

In  the  next  higher  series  are  the  rocks  which,  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  Valley,  store  up  vast  quantities  of  petro- 
leum. This  is  believed  to  have  been  distilled  by  a  suitable 
chemistry  of  these  rocks,  in  the  layers  below  or  those  above 
them,  from  vegetables  and  the  soft  parts  of  the  bodies  of  ani- 
mals. Some  have  thought  it  a  pure  mineral  product — a  com- 
bination of  gases  ascending  from  the  heated  regions  of  the 
lower  rocks — and  that  the  process  is  still  going  on.  In  this 
case  the  supply  would  be  still  more  inexhaustible,  but  the  gen- 
eral opinion  is  that  this  oil  is  a  product  of  the  Plant  and- 
Animal  Kingdoms.  Most  of  the  rocks  contain  it  in  greater 
or  less  quantity.  It  is  found  in  paying  quantities  only  in 
porous  rocks.  This  is  sandstone  in  Pennsylvania  and  blue 
limestone  in  Kentucky.  It  added  largely  to  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  Valley. 

But  perhaps  the  most  valuable  mineral  product  of  this 
region  is  its  coal.  It  is  necessary  in  vast  quantities  for  work- 
ing iron  ore  on  a  large  scale,  and  it  bears  the  most  important 
relation  to  the  wonderfully  effective  activities  of  modern 
industry.  Great  Britain  has  about  12,000  square  miles  of  her 
territory  underlaid  with  coal.  It  often  lies  very  deep,  and 
is  there  difficult  and  costly  to  raise  ;  but  it  has  made  her  the 
foremost  nation  of  the  world.  The  machinery  used  in  manu- 
facturing in  Great  Britain  does  the  work  of  fifty  million  per- 
sons besides  those  employed  to  control  it,  and  coal  applied  to 
transportation  enables  that  country  to  develop  trade  and  com- 
merce to  corresponding  proportions.  In  the  last  seventy-five 
years,  therefore,  Great  Britain  has  led  the  world  in  industry 
and  commerce,  and  become  the  center  of  wealth  among  civil- 
ized nations.  By  means  which  find  operative  power  in  her 
coal  she  has  acquired  possessions  and  established  colonies  in 
eveiy  part  of  the  world.  Her  aggressive  spirit  has  been  turned 
into  useful  channels,  and  she  has  been  one  of  the  most  effect- 
ive agents  of  civilization. 

By  her  facility  in  manufacturing  she  overflows  with  this 


94 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAiLET 


kind  of  productiveness  and  finds  her  interest  hi  Jree  trade  with 
all  nations.  She  has  long  been  able  to  almost  flood  the  markets 
of  the  world  with  her  goods,  and  undersell  many  of  the  most 
diligent  and  ingenious  people  in  the  special  products  of  their 
industry  in  their  own  markets.  Pier  commerce  wliitens  every 
sea,  she  is  mistress  of  the  ocean  and  the  common  carrier  of 
nations.  "  Her  merchants  have  become  princes."  An  asso- 
ciation of  them  acquired  political  possession,  in  Southern 
Asia,  of  a  region  ten  times  the  size  of  her  home  islands,  con- 
taining native  inhabitants  nearly  seven  times  as  numerous  as 
she  could  count  at  home,  and  these  two  hundred  millions  pos- 
sessed the  accumulated  wealth  of  a  very  ancient  civilization, 
the  prolific  resources  of  a  tropical  climate,  and  the  commer- 
cial advantage  of  being  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the  sea. 
.  Her  colonies,  sharing  her  intelligent  and  enterprising  spirit, 
tend  to  become  nations;  the  mother  coixntry  wisely  sustains 
and  protects  them  in  feebleness,  and  when  strong  allows  them 
a  free  and  independent  development,  finding  the  greatest 
profit  in  trade  with  them  and  in  the  markets  they  supply  for 
her  wares.  "Were  the  forces  of  civilization  derived  from  the 
coal  beds  of  England,  Scotland  and  Wales  now  subtracted 
from  the  world  its  loss  would  be  beyond  computation. 

But  the  same  Anglo-Saxon  race  rules  the  Mississippi  Valley 
and  owns  the  coal  to  which  that  of  England  is  a  trifle.  There 
are  three  great  fields,  most  of  whose  deposits  lie  wholly  within 
the  Valley,  the  remainder  being  near  its  rim.  Tiie  Appala- 
chian coal  fluid,  stretching  from  New  York  to  Alabama,  un- 
derlies 60,000  square  miles.  The  Central  or  Illinois  field, 
extending  into  Kentucky,  is  nearly  as  large.  The  Western 
field,  including  parts  of  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Missouri,  Kansas, 
Arkansas,  and  extending,  with  some  breaks,  across  the  Indian 
Territory  into  Texas,  underlies  an  area  of  nearly  100,000 
square  miles,  and  the  coal  of  more  recent  formation,  near  the 
base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  Colorado  and  Wyoming, 
extends  under  about  15,000  square  miles.  Michigan  has  also 
a  field,  which  is  comparatively  thin,  of  5,000  square  miles. 


EXTENT  AND  VALUE  OF  COAL  BEDS.  95 

It  is  not  accurately  known  how  much  of  this  may  be  so 
impure  or  thin  as  to  prove  unprofitable  to  work,  but  so  much 
is  known  that  it  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  about  150,- 
000  square  miles  of  it  in  the  Valley  will  yield  excellent 
results.  All  Europe  is  estimated  to  contain  but  100,000  square 
miles  of  coal.  To  this  is  to  be  added  that  where  the  Ameri- 
can coal  is  tlie  thickest  and  most  condensed,  it  has  been  gen- 
erally elevated  above  the  drainage  in  hills  and  mountains, 
that  almost  everywhere  in  the  prairie  states  it  is  contained  in 
the  highest  or  surface  series  of  rocks,  and  usually  above  the 
drainage  valleys.  It  is  also  more  accessible  tlian  much  of  the 
European  coal  to  carrying  agents.  By  these  two  circum- 
stances a  vast  expense  is  saved  in  working  it. 

This  wide-spread  extension  seems  a  foresight  of  the  broad 
activities  that,  by  means  of  it,  were  one  day  to  cover  the  vast 
Valley.  A  glimpse  of  the  inexhaustible  quantities  and  bound- 
less wealth  included  in  this  resource  of  the  Valley  may  be 
caught  by  the  miners'  estimate  that  a  square  mile  of  coal  one 
foot  thick  would  yield  1,000,000  tons.  The  beds,  in  vertical 
thickness,  vary  from  two  or  three  feet  to  twenty  and  thirty,  and 
sometimes  even  more.  No  single  layer  is  more  than  a  few 
feet  in  thickness,  but  many  often  lie  over  each  other,  in  some 
cases  even  to  the  number  of  sixty  or  seventy.  It  is  not  easy 
to  imagine  any  activity  so  great  as  to  exhaust  the  motive 
power  residing  in  the  coal  of  the  Valley,  and  every  ton  of 
coal  represents  a  large  amount  of  activity  producing  wealth 
or  comfort. 

Large  quantities  of  the  precious  metals  are  stored  in  the 
western  border  of  the  Valley,  from  the  head  waters  of  the 
Missouri  to  Texas.  These  were  chiefly  collected  in  the  crevices 
of  the  rocks,  or  scattered  through  quartz  rock  during  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  great  Rocky  Mountain  system,  and  unknown,  but 
certainly  large,  quantities  are  yet  to  be  obtained.  The  supply 
of  silver  is  considered  practically  inexhaustible.  But  iron 
and  coal  are  far  moi'e  necessar\'  to  the  permanent  wealth  and 


96  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

colossal  development  of  a  people  than  gold  and  silver,  and  of 
those  there  is  most  liberal  provision.  In  these  respects  all 
apparent  possibilities  of  need  are  richly  provided  for. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

a:-5:"~l~^:. -1    '    --::  :'-rms  of  thz  vaulet. 

The  general  smiace  of  the  Valley  of  the  MississippL 
thioDgii  the  direction  and  moderation  of  its  elopes,  is  charac- 
terized by  a  broad  and  grand  simplicity.  By  geological 
formation,  by  relation*  to  the  onteide  world,  and  by  peculiar- 
ities of  climate  there  are  three  sections.  These  are  the  Ohio 
YaBey  and  the  southern  and  western  watershed  of  the 
Lakes,  to  which  geological,  agricnltoraL  commercial,  and 
mannfaetnring  affinities  join  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  its 
s\stem  of  drainage;  the  ^Missouri  Yaliey,  including  that  of 
the  Upper  Arkansas  ;  and  the  6nlf  Slope,  including  all  the 
Gulf  States  and  the  Lower  Mississippi  Valley.  Yet.  nowhere 
do  dividing  lines  approach  the  character  of  barrier.  The 
whole  is  co  tempered  ^id  melted  together  by  the  interlocking 
of  the  streams  and  slopes  and  the  characteristics  of  soiL  tem- 
perature and  rainML  as  to  form  a  broad  and  grand  whole. 
The  lake  system  on  the  north  and  the  Gulf  on  the  south  both 
enter  as  elements  of  supreme  importance  to  the  general  in- 
terests of  this  fortunate  region. 

Internal  eonunerce  is  provided  with  remarkable,  ^cilities. 
The  heights  of  Minnesota,  of  the  far  Northwest,  and  of 
Western  Pennsylvania  are  joined  by  three  grand  arteries  of 
navigation  in  the  centre  of  the  VaUey,  where  the  mighty 
stream  of  the  Lower  Mississippi  invites  intercourse  with  the 
south  and  the  outside  world.  The  singularly  favored  Upper 
Valley  would  have  suffered  seriously  in  many  ways  but 
fear  the  ^stem  of  Great  Lakes  and  their  eastern  relations. 
While  dbe  direction  of  its  main  slope  and  the  Ohio  and  Upper 
Miasisdi^  Birers  suggest  its  relations  with  the  south,  the 


1>8  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

break  in  the  Alleghanies  through  New  York,  the  vast  con- 
nected links  of  the  lakes  and  their  outlets,  give  the  invitation 
to  close  commercial  relations  with  the  Atlantic  Coast  in  the 
same  latitude  and  distinguish  the  whole  northern  slope  as 
highly  for  the  most  modern  times  as  in  the  early  and  later 
geological  ages.  The  lakes  and  the  rivers  insure  an  always 
important  commerce. 

These  water  facilities  for  commerce,  however,  seem  to  be 
overshadowed  at  present  by  another  ;  its  smooth,  soft  surface 
and  wide  levels  remarkablj^  adapt  it  to  the  development  of  the 
railway  system.  This  was  so  readily  and  cheaply  accom- 
plished, was  so  accommodating  to  the  purposes  and  wants  of 
the  time,  that  the  water-ways  of  the  Valley  were  almost 
abandoned.  Commercial  facilities  and  the  massing:  of  coal, 
iron,  and  other  useful  metals  in  the  Ohio  Valley  and  Lake 
regions  encourage  manufactures  in  a  way  quite  extraordinary. 
The  presence  of  a  large  population,  the  position  midway 
between  the  two  oceans,  the  cheapness  of  material  from  its 
nearness  and  abundance,  and  the  ready  facilities  for  cheap 
distribution — all  which  must  have  a  great  effect  to  cheapen 
the  price  of  the  articles  manufactured — adapt  the  Valley  sin- 
gularly to  this  form  of  industry.  It  is  the  natural  center  of 
e  great  people.  It  has  ready  relations  with  civilized  Europe 
by  Eastern  ports,  and  with  the  teeming  millions  of  Asia  by 
the  Pacific  Coast.  It  has  the  closest  and  most  important 
relations  with  the  West  Indies  and  tropical  America  across 
the  Gulf  and  the  Carribean  Sea  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Gulf  ports  and  by  the  Orinoco  and  Am- 
azon Rivers  and  the  future  ship  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama.  Under  all  these  stimulants  the  Valley  must  develop, 
in  time,  immense  activity  in  numerous  branches  of  trade. 
No  region  can  expect  to  aj)proach  it  in  greatness  in  these 
respects,  when  its  capabilities  are  fairly  unfolded. 

But  however  great  the  Valley  may  yet  become  by  com- 
merce and  various  industries  from  its  natural  facilities  for 


m> 


AGEICULTUKE  TAKES  THE  LEAD.  99 

them,  its  advantageous  relations  and  its  position,  its  agricul- 
ture must  always  be  most  prominent  and  profitable.  It  is 
the  true  home  of  this  industry.  All  the  Geological  Periods 
worked  intelligently  and  continuously  to  concentrate  here  the 
rocks  that  should  supply  the  necessary  earthy  and  chemical 
materials  for  the  formation  of  a  durable  soil,  and  later  ages 
took  care  that  they  should  be  finely  pulverized  and  well  dis- 
tributed. With  this  foundation  agriculture  may  be  developed 
to  any  desirable  extent.  This  industry  is  the  base  of  the 
social  and  business  structure.  Man's  first  and  constant  ne- 
cessity is  food.  With  an  insufiicient  measure  of  this  in  any 
region  all  other  activities  must  be  put  in  motion  to  collect  it 
from  more  favored  localities.  Wherever  it  is  produced  in 
unrestrained  abundance  the  wealth  of  other  regions  must 
flow. 

Branches  of  manufacture,  lines  of  commerce  and  trade, 
and  the  valuable  products  of  mining  are  subject  to  fluctu- 
ations because  they  may  be  over-worked  or  find  competitors 
with  great  readiness.  As  a  source  of  income  they  have  not 
the  steadiness  of  agriculture  for  this  reason,  and  because  they 
deal  more  largely  in  the  supply  of  the  secondary  and  artificial 
wants  of  mankind.  These,  indeed,  by  habit,  seem  soon  to 
become  necessaries  of  life;  yet,  when  financial  pressure  arises 
the  primary  demands  of  life  are  undisturbed,  while  these 
acquired  wants  retreat  into  the  background,  and  disaster  and 
distress  spread  through  the  classes  whose  income  depends  on 
the  prosperity  of  the  industries  which  supply  them.  No 
people  can  be  poor  with  whom  the  most  solid  fruits  of  the 
soil  are  abundant.  Experience  soon  shows  them  that  they 
can  be  comfortable  on  what  the  earth  produces,  and  whatever 
excess  of  this  produce  remains  to  them  is  fairly  sure  of  a 
market. 

This  excess  of  agricultural  products  in  the  Valley  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  any  conceivable  limit.  The  measure 
of  results  from  cultivation  of  the  soil  here  has  been  as  yet 


100  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ridiculously  small  compared  with  its  absolute  capacity,  al- 
though the  grains  anuually  produced  have  long  been  counted 
by  thousands  of  millions  of  bushels.  The  per  cent  of  surface 
actually  devoted  to  growing  crops  in  the  most  thickly  settled 
and  oldest  parts  of  the  Valley  is,  perhaps,  in  no  case  over  20 
to  25,  and  much  the  larger  part  of  the  surface  has  been  settled 
recently  and  thinly,  or  not  at  all.  Some  recapitulation  of 
the  geological  origin  and  qu  ility  of  the  soil  of  the  different 
sections  will  best  convey  a  general  idea  of  the  agricultural 
possibilities  of  the  Valley. 

The  eastern  Valley  north  of  the  Ohio,  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  region  some  distance  west  of  the  Missouri  in 
the  same  latitude  to  the  southeastern  part  of  Dacotah  was, 
with  some  adjoining  parts,  the  original  flyor  completed  and 
raised  at  the  elevation  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  about  the 
beginning  of  the  Mesozoic,  or  Middle  Period.  It  had  been 
carefully  protected  during  the  long  Palaeozoic  Period,  which 
included  about  two  thirds  of  geological  time,  and  had  been 
,  extremely  abundant  in  the  shell  fish  whose  limestone  cover- 
ings had  been  secreted  from  the  waters  by  the  Life  Force  in 
these  animals.  For  this  reason  the  shells  were  easily  broken 
up  into  fine  dust  when  tlie  animals  died,  and  limestone  rock 
was  principally  composed  of  this  material.  When  not 
hardened  and  compacted  by  heat,  great  pressure,  or  some 
peculiar  chemical  cement  this  limestone  would  be  dissolved 
by  "  weathering,"  or  crushed  by  the  vast  glaciers  of  the 
Great  Ice  Age  into  the  very  fine  dust  suitable  to  be  taken 
up  by  plants  to  aid  in  their  structure. 

The  presence  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  in  such  profusion 
in  this  part  of  the  Valley  for  sucli  immense  periods  of  time 
also  collected  in  the  forming  rocks  most  valuable  material  to 
enrich  vegetable  growth  when  they  were  worn  down  and 
spread  abroad  as  soil.  Add  to  this,  that  on  the  north,  much 
of  the  east,  some  spots  tiirough  the  center,  and  generally  over 
this  part  of  the  Valley  before,  after,  and  during  the  Coal- 


THE  SOILS  OF  THE  UPPER  VALLEY.  101 

making  Age,  vast  quantities  of  mud,  gathered  from  the  finer 
material  of  diiferent  rocks  by  atmospheric  influences  and  min- 
gled with  the  remains  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  of  the 
land  and  marshes,  formed  vast  layers  of  loose,  shaly  rock. 
This  was  "  weathered  down  "  on  the  hills,  or  ground  by  the 
ice,  and  helped  to  furnish  rich  supplies  for  vegetable  growth 
all  over  the  Valley,  but  moi'e  especially  over  the  prairie  States 
and  in  the  river  bottoms. 

As  the  liner,  lighter  and  richer  parts  of  this  material  re- 
mained long  in  suspension  in  the  waters  during  the  Cham- 
plain  and  Terrace  Epochs  it  was  largely'  diifused  over  the  sur- 
face of  tlie  northern  Valley.  The  shallow  lakes  on  the  prairie 
levels  received  and  deposited  it.  Sometimes,  by  the  dam- 
ming up  of  streams,  wide-spreading  lakes  would  be  formed 
where  this  material  was  brought  in  such  abundance  as  to  fill 
them  with  this  valuable  Loess,  or  blufi"  soil.  The  shallow 
lakes  became  marshes  and  gradually  filled  up  with  a  rich  loam 
supplied  by  its  decaying  vegetation.  Where  the  drift  was  not 
lodged,  or  where  this  fine  surface  deposit  failed  to  be  laid  or 
was  washed  away  fi"om  the  surface,  enough  was  mixed  with 
the  gravel  to  form  a  tine  soil,  or  the  shaly  and  limestone  rocks 
of  the  hills  were  dissolved  by  the  atmosphere  to  furnish  plant 
supplies — as  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

This  preparation  was  completed  by  long  centuries  of  vege- 
table growth  and  decay,  by  the  life  and  death  of  innumerable 
herds  of  animals,  large  and  small.  This  formed  a  rich,  often 
deep,  surface  mold  which  made  the  Valley  a  garden  for  pro- 
ductiveness when  the  Mound  Builder  or  civilized  farmer  came 
to  cultivate  it. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  soil  of  the  old  "  Northwest 
Territory,"  between  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio,  of 
Iowa,  most  of  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  North  Missouri  and  the 
northeast  corner  of  Kansas.  Over  all  this  region,  to  which 
parts  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  are  to  be  added,  there  is  a 


102  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALI.KV. 

boundless  possibility  of  agricultural  wealth  and  very  little 
poor  land. 

The  plains  between  the  Missouri  and  the  Rocky  Mountains 
lay  for  long  periods  as  a  region  of  lakes  and  marshes;  their 
rocks  were  soft  and  rich  in  material  rer^uired  for  vegetation. 
It  was  very  heavily  washed  down  during  the  process  of  ele- 
vation, but  still  contains  in  places  all  the  depth  and  richness 
of  the  soil  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  the  conditions  of  agri- 
cultural wealth  iu  general  if  sufficient  moisture  were  supplied. 
The  Southern  Valley,  or  Gulf  Slope,  was  chiefly  formed  in 
later  geological  time.  The  Valley  of  the  Lower  Mississippi 
is  largely  filled  with  rich  materials  brought  down  from  the 
upper  Valley  after  the  Glacial  Epoch.  The  Cretaceous  or 
chalk-inakiug  era  laid  heavy  depc^sits  which,  though  not  chalk 
proper,  appear  to  have  been  formed  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep 
sea  from  an  ooze  composed  mainly  of  minute  animals  whose 
light  shells  produce  a  rock  having  excellent  fertilizing  quali- 
ties. The  cotton  of  the  south  is  largely  raised  on  this  belt. 
As  the  rocks  of  the  extreme  south  in  general  are  of  compar- 
atively recent  formation,  they  are  usually  soft  and  fine.  The 
washings  from  the  land  at  the  north,  northeast  and  northwest 
formed  much  shale,  or  niu<i  rock,  that  supplies  a  soft  and  fer- 
tile soil.  Valuable  fertilizing  marls  and  green  sand,  shell 
rocks,  lime,  sandstones  and  clays  are  also  found  there.  The 
coast  of  the  Gulf  back  a  hundred  miles  in  Alabama,  and  still 
more,  sometimes,  amounting  to  two  hundred  miles  further 
west,  was  formed  in  the  Tertiary  epochs  just  before  the  great 
Ice  Age,  and  therefore  in  the  latest  rock-inaking  geological 
times.  The  soil  is  consecpiently  varied  more  largely  in  fertile 
qualities  than  in  the  other  sections,  but  its  rocks  being  mostly 
soft,  the  warm  climate  and  abundant  rainfall  help  to  make  the 
most  of  the  soils  they  produce.  Texas  has  a  large  displaj'  of 
cretaceous  rocks  and  limestones,  both  of  which,  being  chiefly 
of  animal  origin,  are  a  fine  base  for  fertility. 

No  region  in  the  world  can  show  a  soil  so  carefully  prepared, 


HOW    THE    SOIL    IS    AIDED    BY    CLIMATE.  103 

through  vast  geological  times,  with  all  the  most  valuable 
mineral  and  chemical  supplies  for  plant-life,  and  these  so  well 
mixed  and  widely  distributed,  as  that  part  of  the  valley  which 
became  permanently  dry  land  early  in  the  Mesozoic  period; 
that  is,  comprising  the  original  "■  Northwest  Territory,"  and 
the  adjacent  parts  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  south  of  the 
Ohio.  Its  abundance  naturally  overflowed  to  a  large  extent 
into  the  southern  basin,  and  much  of  the  surface  of  the  plains 
was  washed  down  the  same  way.  Thus  the  real  possibilities 
of  agriculture  throughout  the  Valley,  but  especially  in  the 
northern  and  central  sections,  are  wholly  above  estimate  so 
far  as  real  capacity  of  soil  is  concerned. 

This  is  admirably  seconded  by  the  climate.  The  opening 
of  the  Yalley  to  the  south  and  the  direction  given  to  cloud- 
bearing  winds  by  the  high  lands  and  plateaus  of  Central 
America  and  Mexico  furnish  the  stimulus  of  heat  and  moisture 
required  to  call  out  these  resources.  The  northern  and  west- 
ern parts  of  the  Valley  are  tempered  by  the  great  lakes,  by 
winds  from  the  north  and  the  mountains,  and  a  winter  which 
wholly  rests  vegetation  for  several  months  in  the  year.  This 
is  varied  through  many  degrees  of  latitude  and  longitude  and 
by  great  differences  of  precipitated  moisture,  or  rainfall,  and 
various  other  circumstances.  In  the  south  there  is  almost 
tropical  heat  tempered  by  abundant  moisture,  by  winds  usually 
from  the  sea,  by  the  Alleghanies  on  the  northeast,  and  the 
elevations  toward  the  Rocky  Mountain  plateau  on  the  north- 
west of  that  basin.  The  position  am^  the  latitude,  the  relation 
of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf  to  the  Valley,  of  the  mountains, 
the  lakes,  and  the  depression  north  toward  the  pole,  all  tend 
to  secure  desirable  features  of  climate,  either  to  moderate  ex- 
tremes or  to  render  them  a  special  benefit. 

Tables  of  temperature  and  rainfall,  averaged  from  the  obser- 
vations of  many  years,  by  scientific  observers,  are  here  given. 
The  average  temperature  and  moisture  of  each  section  of  the 
country  during  each  of  the  four  seasons,  and  also  for  the  year, 


104:  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

are  recorded,  and  may  be  considered  satisfactory  as  a  general 
guide.  It  has  become  evident,  liow^^ver,  to  careful  local  obser- 
vers west  of  the  Missouri,  that  the  extensive  settlement  of 
those  regions  in  recent  years  is  pruducins-  marked  and  most 
beneficial  changes  in  the  amount  of  yearly  rainfall;  it  steadily 
increases  as  cultivation  and  treeplantiiig  progress.  The  shock 
given  to  the  atmosphere  by  railway  trains  and  the  influence 
of  all  the  changes  wrought  by  active  settlement  on  its  electric 
conditions  are  believed  to  be  important  agents  in  promoting 
an  increase  of  rainfall  where  it  was  before  often  insuiiicienl 
for  all  the  purpckses  of  agriculture. 


TABLES    OF   TEMPERATURE. 


105 


I'ABLE  OF  TEMPEEATUEE8  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


STATIONS. 


Toronto,  Canada 

Portland,  Me. 

Portsmouth,  N.  H 

Cambridge,   Mass 

Amherst,  Mass 

New  York  City 

Albany,  N.  Y 

Rochester.  N.  Y.. 

Philadelphia,  Pa_ 

Gettysburg,  Pa. 

Washington  City 

Charleston,  S.  C- 

Pensacola,  Fla 

Vera  Cruz,  Mexico 

Mobile.  Ala 

New  Orleans,  La 

Galveston,  Texas 

FortTowson,  I.  T 

St.  Louis,  Mo 

Cinrinnati,  O 

Hudson,  O 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich 

Fort  Wilkins.  Lake  Superior 
Fort  Brady,  Lake  Superior. 

Milwaukee,  Wis 

Chicago,  111 

Fort  Madison,  Iowa 

St.  Paul's,  Minn. _ , 

Fort  Scott,  Kansas. 

Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas... 

Fort  Rilev,  Kansas 

Fort  Kearney,  Neb.. , 

Fort  Laramie,  Neb 

Great  Salt  Lake , 

Fort  Beuton,  Upf>er  Mo 

Fort  Union,  Texas 

Santa  Pe,  New  Mexico 

Fort  Yuma,  Col , 

San  Francisco,  Cal 

Sacramento,   Cal. 

Fort  Miller,  Cal. , 

Dalles  of  Columbia , 

Astoria,  Oregon 

Sitka,  Alaska , 


ALT. 

8PRINO. 

SUMMER 

.■^UT'MN 

WINTER 

TEAR 

Feet. 

Q 

^ 

° 

o 

° 

341 

41.1 

64.8 

46.6 

24.5 

44.3 

20 

42.8 

65.2 

48.1 

24.7 

45.2 

20 

43.2 

64.4 

49.0 

26.6 

45.8 

71 

44.3 

68.6 

50.1 

26.2 

47.3 

267 

45.0 

68.6 

48.7 

24.7 

46.7 

23 

48.7 

72.1 

54.5 

31.4 

517 

130 

46.7 

70.0 

50.0 

260 

48.2 

506 

44.6 

67.6 

48.9 

27.0 

47.0 

60 

50.6 

71.0 

52.1 

33.6 

51.6 

600? 

50.0 

71.6 

51.1 

30.1 

50.7 

78 

54.2 

73.1 

53.9 

33.9 

53.8 

20 

65.8 

80.6 

68.1 

51.7 

66.6 

20 

68.6 

81.6 

69.8 

549 

68.7 

00 

78.0 

81.5 

78  7 

71.9 

77.5 

25 

70.1 

82.7 

71.0 

57.3 

70.3 

10 

70.0 

82.3 

70.7 

56.5 

69.9 

00 

78.0 

83.5 

70.2 

53.8 

69.4 

300? 

62.4 

79.1 

61.3 

43.9 

61.7 

450 

54.1 

76.2 

55.4 

32.3 

54  5 

550 

54.3 

73.0 

55.0 

33.9 

53.8 

1,131 

49.1 

70.2 

48.4 

28.8 

49.1 

700? 

45.5 

66.3 

48.4 

25.3 

46.4 

627 

38.5 

60.8 

43.0 

21.8 

40.1 

600 

37.6 

63.0 

43.5 

18.3 

40.4 

591 

42.3 

673 

50.1 

26.0 

46.4 

591 

44.9 

67.3 

48.8 

25.9 

46.7 

550? 

50.5 

73.2 

53.1 

26.3 

50.8 

820 

45.6 

70.6 

45.9 

161 

446 

1,000  ? 

54.8 

74.9 

55.3 

330 

54.5 

896 

.53.8 

74.1 

53.7 

29.6 

53.8 

1,147 

56.5 

77.2 

60.3 

32.4 

56.6 

2,360 

46.8 

71.5 

49.3 

23.0 

47.7 

4,519 

46.8 

71.9 

50.3 

31.1 

50.1. 

4,351 

51.7 

75.9 



32.1 

2,663 

49.9 

72.8 

44.5 

25.4 

48.3 

6,418 

48.3 

67.3 

48.3 

32.0 

49.1 

6,846 

49.7 

70  4 

50.6 

31.6 

50.6 

120 

72.1 

90.0 

75.7 

56.8 

73.6 

50 

57.0 

60.1 

60.1 

51.5 

.57.2 

50 

59.2 

72.8 

613 

46.3 

59.9 

402 

62.8 

85.5 

66.4 

49.3 

66.0 

350 

53.0 

70.3 

53.2 

35  6 

52.8 

50 

51.1 

61.6 

53.7 

42.4 

52.5 

50 

40.0 

54.2 

43.9 

33.3 

42.6 

106 


THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


ANNUAL     PRECIPITATION     OF      RAIN     AT     DIFFERENT     STATIONS     IN 
THE   UNITED    STATES. 


STATIONS. 


Toronto,  Canada 

Portland,  Me 

Portsmouth,  N.  H 

Ciimbridffe,  Mass 

Amherst,  Mass 

New  York  City 

Albany,  N.  Y 

Rochester,  N.  Y 

Philadelphia,   Pa 

Gettysburg,   Pa 

Pittsburgh,  Pa 

Washington,  D.  C 

Charleston,  S.  C 

Vera  Cruz,  Mexico 

Pensacola,  Pla 

Mobile,  Ala..- 

New  Orleans,  La 

Jackson,   Miss. 

Fort  Jessup,  La 

FortTowson,  I.T, 

St.  Louis,  Mo 

Cincinuati,  O 

Hudson,  O 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich 

Muckiuac,  Mich. 

Fort  Braily,  Mich 

Milwaukee,  Wis 

St.  Paul,  Minn 

Fort  Madison,  Iowa 

Fort  Scott,  Kansas 

Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

Port  Riley,  Kansas 

Fort  Kearney,  Neb 

Fort  Laramie,  Neb 

Fort  Union,  Texas 

El  Paso,  New  Mexico 

Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico 

Fort  Yuma.Cal 

San  Francisco,  Cal 

Sacramento,  Cal 

Fort  Miller,  Cal 

Asloria,  Oregon.. 

Steilacoom.  Wash.  Ter 

Dalles  ot  Columbia... 

Sitkii,  Alaska 


7.16 

12.11 

9.03 

10.85 

10.23 

11.55 

9.79 

6.62 

10.97 

9.74 

9.38 

10.45 

8.60 

31.90 

12.86 

14.24 

11.29 

10.90 

1368 

15.55 

12.30 

12.14 

9.76 

7.30 

4.67 

5.44 

6.60 

6.61 

15.30 

12.57 

7.97 

7.91 

10.80 

8.69 

2.47 

0.70 

2.83 

0  27 

7.50 

7.01 

9.57 

16.43 

11.19 

2.63 

18.32 


auMM'R 

aut'mn 

WINTER 

9.57 

10.33 

4.29 

10.28 

11.93 

10.93 

9.21 

8.95 

8.38 

11.17 

12.57 

9.89 

11.84 

11.39 

9.70 

11.33 

10.30 

9.63 

12.31 

10.27 

8.30 

K.86 

9  38 

5.38 

12.45 

10.07 

10.06 

10.20 

9.77 

9.10 

9.87 

8.'J3 

7.48 

10,52 

lO.lG 

11.07 

18.68 

11.61 

9.40 

116.80 

51.40 

5.50 

18.69 

13.71 

11.72 

18.00 

18.91 

18.27 

17.28 

9.62 

12.71 

14.20 

9.50 

18,40 

1094 

9.74 

11.49 

14.36 

12.23 

8.94 

14.14 

8.94 

6.94 

13.70 

9.90 

11.15 

8.87 

6.16 

8.00 

11.20 

7.00 

3.10 

8.88 

7.01 

3.31 

9.97 

10.76 

5.18 

9.70 

6.80 

4.20 

10.92 

5.98 

1.92 

15.90 

14.50 

4.70 

16.37 

8.39 

4.79 

12.24 

7.33 

2.75 

7.15 

5.58 

1.26 

12.05 

3.82 

1.31 

5.70 

3.96 

1.63 

9.62 

5.12 

203 

3.56 

5.25 

1.70 

8.90 

6.02 

2.08 

1.30 

0.86 

0.72 

0.09 

2.96 

11.34 

0.00 

661 

12.11 

0.02 

2.80 

9.79 

4.00 

21.77 

44  15 

3  85 

15,83 

22.62 

0.42 

3.78 

6.98 

15.75 

32.10 

23.77 

31.35 
45.25 
35.57 
44.48 
43.16 
43.23 
40.67 
30.44 
43.56 
38.81 
34.96 
41.20 
48.29 
183.30 
56.98 
64.42 
50.90 
53.00 
45.85 
51.08 
42.32 
40.89 
32.79 
28.60 
23.87 
31.35 
27.20 
25.43 
50.50 
42.12 
30.29 
21.90 
27.98 
19.98 
19.24 
11.21 
19  83 
3.15 
21.95 
25,73 
22.18 
86.35 
53.49 
13.81 
89.94 


THE    LAW    OF    TAEIATION    IN    EAIXFAI.l..  107 

In  the  lower  Valley  and  in  the  densely  wooded  regions  the 
rainfall  is  large  for  all  the  seasons,  and  the  difference  for  the 
seasons  not  very  great;  but  when  the  point  is  reached  where 
the  average  fall  of  the  year  begins  to  decrease,  in  about  the 
same  degree  does  the  amount  of  precipitation  for  the  fall  and 
M'inter  diminish,  leaving  the  spring  and  summer  rainfall 
tolerably  near  a  constant  quantity.  This  law  applies  par- 
ticulai^y  to  the  region  between  western  Indiana  and  thet 
mountains.  It,  however,  requires  a  broad  average  both  of 
surface  and  of  years,  there  being  important  variations  for 
special  localities  and  years.  But  for  this  law  of  rains  the  vast 
plains  of  the  upper  western  Valle}-  would  be  a  real  desert. 
Were  the  rains  there  equally  distributed  through  all  the  sea- 
sons the  amount  falling  in  the  productive  seasons  would  not 
be  sufficient  for  the  grasses  and  grains. 

Precipitation  of  rain  may  be  materially  increased  by  plant- 
ing trees.  They  do  not  refuse  to  grow  when  introduced  and 
cared  for  by  man,  and  a  considerable  modification  in  the  dry- 
ness of  the  western  regions  is  possible.  The  long  rivers  that 
flow  from  the  mountains  across  these  dry  plains  to  the  cen- 
tral Valley  furnish  the  means  of  irrigating  over  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  best  lands,  which,  with  attention  to  forest  growth, 
will  ultimately  introduce  very  great  and  favorable  changes  in 
the  extreme  west  and  northwest  of  the  Valley. 

Russia,  in  Euroj^e,  and  the  Valley  of  the  Amazon,  in  South 
A.merica,  have  points  in  common  with  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
and  are  destined  to  exert  a  great  influence  on  the  future  of 
mankind.  It  will  be  interesting  to  compare  them  and  see  in 
what  points  our  Valley  e.xcels. 

Russia  is  a  vast  plain,  stretching  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to 
the  Black  Sea.  It  has,  to  some  extent,  the  character  of  a 
shallow  trough,  there  being  mountains  on  the  east  and  higher 
regions  at  the  north  and  south  of  its  western  boundary,  with 
an  opening  between,  which  includes  the  Baltic  Sea  and  the 
JSTorthern  Plains  of  Germany.     On  the  southeast  the  Ural 


108  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Mountains  melt  into  a  plain  that  extends  across  Siberia.  From 
north  to  south,  through  2,000  miles,  there  is  a  gradual  descent 
to  the  Black  Sea.  The  extreme  north  has  an  arctic  climate 
and  vegetation  ;  below  that  is  a  vast  forest,  more  or  less 
marshy.  A  cold  and  rigorous  climate  extends  far  down  the 
slope.  The  lower  half  is  largely  occupied  by  treeless  plains 
called  steppes — closely  resembling  the  prairies  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley. 

Instead  of  being  a  grand  unity  in  diversity,  in  which  the 
north  and  south  temper  each  other,  it  is  rather  an  assemblage 
of  contrasts.  Dry  and  warm  in  the  south,  it  is  wet  and  cold 
in  the  north.  The  geological  formations  have  as  little  unity. 
The  best  soil  is  in  the  lower  interior,  and  not  in  the  best 
region  to  secure  the  largest  results.  There  are  many  long 
streams  flowing  soiithward,  but  not  in  a  single  system,  with  a 
great  central  trunk,  like  the  Mississippi.  It  has  very  great 
resources,  part  of  the  soil  l)eing  extremely  fruitful  and  very 
)ittle  of  it  absolutely  barren, but  it  fails  to  \>e  well  distributed. 
It  has  great  mineral  resources  in  the  Urals  and  large  quan- 
tities of  coal,  but  far  away  from  the  most  populous  regions 
and  commercial  centers.  Thus  with  great  advantages  are 
coupled  embarrassing  extremes  and  difficulties  of  position 
and  relations  not  known  in  the  Great  Yalley. 

The  Valley  of  the  Amazon  is  more  than  a  third  larger  than 
that  of  the  Mississippi  proper,  and  excels  it  in  the  unity  and 
extent  of  its  river  sj'stem.  It  descends  gently  3,000  miles 
from  the  watershed  of  the  Andes  to  the  Atlantic.  Some  of 
the  head  waters  of  the  Amazon  are  said  to  be  within  60  miles 
of  the  Pacific  shore.  It  has  a  fertile  soil  and  is  provided  with 
a  deep  and  soft  layer  of  fine  earth  over  its  upper  rocks,  be- 
lieved by  Agassiz  the  product  of  a  vast  glacier,  like  that  which 
furnished  the  drift  of  our  upper  Valley.  This  is  doubted  by 
other  geologists,  but  it  is  remarkably  useful  however  produced. 
This  great  Valley  is  extremely  well  watered;  the  cloud-bearing 
winds  from  the  Atlantic,  entering  its  eastern  opening,  de- 


Ik 


THE   VALLEY    OF    THE    AJIAZUN.  109 

posit  their  precious  burden  over  its  whole  extent,and  yield 
their  last  reserve  to  the  chill  air  of  the  Andes,  whence  it 
flows  in  innumerable  streams  down  the  fertile  slope  to  swell 
the  x\mazon.  The  relations  of  this  Valley  with  the  Basin 
of  the  Orinoco,  on  the  north,  are  such  as  almost  to  unite  the 
two,  and  the  pampas  and  llanos  of  the  northern  and  buuthern 
interior  find  a  natural  outlet  by  the  Amazon. 

It  is  extremely  fruitful,  the  soil  being  abundantly  good. 
But  with  all  these  extreme  advantages,  and  others  that  might 
be  mentioned,  it  must  be  ranked  below  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi  by  its  very  exaggerations.  It  lies  under  the 
equator  through  its  greatest  length,  and  though  described  as 
more  moderate  in  temperature  and  healthfulness  than  might 
be  expected,  it  has  an  eternal  summer,  and  the  vegetable 
kingdom  displays  a  power  and  luxuriance  that  will  long  remain 
uncontrolled  by  man.  Abundant  moisture,  abundant  heat,  and 
a  consecpient  extremely  rich  and  stimulating  vegetable  mold 
unfit  it,  for  the  most  part,  for  the  production  of  concentrated 
fruits  and  grains.  Tropical  fruits,  valuable  woods,  and  many 
extraordinaiy  medicinal  and  economical  products  abound.  It 
furnishes  much  that  is  of  value  to  general  commerce,  but 
nature  is  not  controllable.  She  has,  as  it  were,  taken  the  bits 
between  her  teeth.  She  is  here  wild  and  untamable,  to  a 
large  extent,  and  declines  the  faithful  service  to  man  that  is 
so  eminent  a  feature  of  the  sister  Valley  of  North  America. 
She  furnishes  remarkable  sources  of  wealth  to  a  civilization 
firmly  established  and  harmoniously  developed  by  the  help 
of  a  wide  range  of  the  most  useful  resources  and  under  the 
invigorating  climate  of  tlie  temperate  zone.  The  enervating 
heat,  the  spontaneous  fruits  which  supply  nearly  all  the 
immediate  necessities  of  man  with  little  labor,  and  the 
difficulty  of  acquiring  any  measure  of  control  over  the  energies 
of  nature  render  this  extraordinary  Valley  unfavorable  to  the 
development  of  the  elements  of  civilization.  It  depresses  in- 
stead of  stimulating  the  mental  and  moral  energies  lodged  in 


110  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

humanity.  It  was  a  magnificent  inheritance  for  the  Portu- 
guese, but  has  embarrassed  rather  than  aided  their  progress 
during  tlie  three  hundred  years  and  more  that  it  has  been  in 
their  possession. 

All  things  considered,  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  has 
many  points  of  great  superiority  to  any  other  region  in  the 
world.  In  particular  things  some  regions  are  more  highly 
favored  ;  but  for  the  avoidance  of  extremes  in  every  point  of 
view,  united  with  the  most  solid  and  comprehensive  resources, 
it  is  unrivalled.  The  value  of  these  is  enhanced  by  f-uch  a 
location  as.  to  greatly  assist  the  progressive  development  of 
the  highest  form  of  civilization  known  to  man.  The  climate, 
the  Lake  and  River  systems  and  the  Gulf  unite  with  the  form 
of  the  Valley,  the  structure  of  the  mountains,  the  general 
relations  to  other  parts  of  the  continent  and  the  world,  to  give 
the  greatest  possible  value  to  the  products  of  its  soils  and 
mines. 

All  these  circumstances  combined  with  the  social  and  po- 
litical condition  of  Europe  to  select  for  it,  at  the  right  time, 
the  most  desirable  population  that  could  have  been  found. 
Industrious,  intelligent  and  enterprising,  they  brought  the 
mature  results  of  European  civilization  and  thought  to  the 
development  of  the  institutions  and  industries  of  this  broad 
and  rich  alluvial  plain.  These  fortunate  coincidences  tend  to 
make  the  most  of  all  the  resources  of  the  Valley,  but  espe- 
cially of  its  agricultural  capacities.  They  are  seen  to  offer  a 
solid  foundation  for  national  development.  Every  other  form 
of  industry  is  more  or  less  fluctuating;  this  is  steady  and  sure. 
Its  slow  and  laboriously  earned  gains  exert  a  more  healthy 
influence  on  character  than  the  alternate  profusion  and  pain- 
ful straits — the  ebb  and  flow  of  success — in  commerce,  man- 
ufactures, and  trade. 

Abundance  is  easily  secured  without  excessive,  slavish  toil, 
yet  requires  steady  physical  application,  under  the  direction 
of  intelligence,  in  a  healthy  and  inspiring  climate.     A  mine 


Mi. 


ITS   AGRICULTURAL    RESOURCES.  Ill 

of  the  precious  metals,  a  branch  of  manufacture,  a  line  of 
commerce  may,  by  intelligent  energy  and  skill,  soon  be  ex- 
hausted with  great  temporary  results;  but  a  painful,  disorgan- 
izing reaction  follows.  The  agricultural  resources  of  the 
Valley  are  for  all  time,  and  useless  beyond  the  immediate 
supply  of  human  wants — a  steady  perennial  spring,  to  become, 
in  time,  a  powerful  stream  for  the  comfort  of  mankind- 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    MOUND    BUILDERS    AND   THE    FIRST    MEN    IN    THE  VALLEY. 

When  tlie  Age  of  Ice  drew  to  its  close  the  Champlain 
Period  opened.  Tlie  indications  are  that  during  the  Glacial 
Period  the  northern  part  of  the  continent  was  raised  at  least 
some  hundreds  of  feet  higrher  than  now.  This  elevation  was 
followed  by  a  sinking  of  the  same  regions,  or,  at  least,  of  all 
that  lay  below  the  northern  border  of  Lake  Superior,  several 
hundred  feet  lower  than  now.  It  was  as  if  Mother  Nature 
filled  her  lungs  and  emptied  tliem  again,  causing  a  measured 
rise  and  fall  of  her  bosom.  The  St.  Lawrence  Valley  was  an 
arm  of  the  sea  far  up  toward  Lake  Ontario,  and  salt-water 
stood  some  hundreds  of  feet  deep  over  Montreal.  Lake 
Champlain  was  an  interior  sea,  visited  by  whales,  while  huge 
animals,  anions  them  the  mammoth,  browsed  on  its  banks 
and  left  their  bones  in  its  marshes. 

Both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe  multitudes  of  very 
large  and  very  ferocious  animals  made  their  appearance  in 
tliis  Age  of  the  Drift — often  called  the  Champlain  Period, 
because  it  has  been  most  carefully  studied  near  that  Lake — 
and  at  this  time  the  first  traces  of  man  are  found  on  each  con- 
tinent. It  was  a  period  of  fresh-water  overflow  from  the 
melting  ice,  of  lakes  and  marshes  in  the  Valley,  and  the  re- 
mains of  animals  were  buried  in  the  drift  as  it  was  distributed 
by  the  surgiyg  floods.  The  traces  of  man  in  this  ])eriod  are 
very  numerous  in  Europe,  and  are  not  wanting  in  America, 
though  not  so  fnlly  studied  here. 

Many  facts  have  been  collected  which  seem  to  leave  no 
doubt  that  men  lived  in  the  Valley  when  the  mammoth,  the 
mastodon,  the  lion,  the  tiger,  and  other  large  and  ferocious 

113 


ifl^K 


THE    FIEST    MEN    IN    THE    VALLEY.  113 

animals,  since  extinct,  roamed  over  the  liighlands,  and  were 
mired  in  the  marslies.  "  Big-bone  Lick,"  in  Kentucky, 
acquired  its  name  from  tlie  numbers  of  tlie  immense  animals 
whose  remains  were  entombed  there.  In  a  similar  spot  near 
the  Osage  Kiver,  in  Missouri,  the  bones  of  some  eighty  or 
more  distinct  animals  have  been  found.  Among  these  were 
found  several  arrow-heads  of  human  manufacture.  One  was 
hematli  the  l)ones  of  a  mammoth  enttunbed  fifteen  feet  below 
the  surface  in  a  mass  of  drift. 

In  another  part  of  the  same  state  the  indications  were  very 
]>lain  that  (jne  of  thesehuge  animals  was  mired  in  the  presence 
of  men,  who  attacked  it  with  flint-tipped  arrows,  spears,  and 
stone  axes,  when,  finding  the  animal  heljjless  but  tenacious  of 
life,  they  built  a  fire  around  its  head  and  destroyed  it,  after 
which  the  spot,  with  all  these  proofs  of  human  presence,  was 
covered  by  drift  and  soil.  Numerous  marks  of  a  similar  kind 
have  been  found  at  the  foot  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  the 
Mississippi  delta,  below  New  Orleans,  a  human  skeleton  was 
found  beneath  two  successive  forests  of  cypress.  Many  other 
indications,  within  and  without  the  Valley,  go  to  confirm  the 
same  point.  The  shell-heaps  of  Florida  and  California  are  as 
significant  as  the  "  Kitchen-middings"  of  Denmark. 

So  far  as  the  general  tone  of  these  indications  can  now  be 
estimated,  they  are  fully  in  keeping  with  later  developments. 
The  early  European  man  progressed  steadily,  so  that  four  dif- 
ferent stages  of  approach  to  civilization  are  seen  to  stand  out 
witli  great  distinctness.  They  are  characterized  by  the  arms 
and  tools  of  each  period  as  the  Rude  Stone  Age,  the  Polished 
Stone  Age,  the  Bronze  Age,  and  the  Iron  Age. 

These  distinctions  are  not  as  sharp  and  clear  in  America, 
but  there  is  a  marked  resemblance.  The  implements,  indi- 
cated by  their  position  in  the  drift  as  the  oldest  on  this  conti- 
nent, are  rude.  The  Mound  Builders  belonged  to  the  Polished 
Stone  Age,  and  the  Peruvians  reach  the  development  of  the 
Bronze  Age;  but  the  Iron  Age  was  introduced  by  Europeans. 
8 


& 


114  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY 

The  movement  toward  civilization  here  was  slower  and  had 
some  very  weak  sides  where  that  of  the  Old  World  came  out 
strong.  It  can  not  well  be  doubted,  however,  that  the  Valley- 
was  inhabited  as  early  as  the  western  part  of  Europe  ;  that 
the  start  was  from  the  same  point  of  rudeness;  and  that  pro- 
gress was  only  made  by  select  races  under  favoring  circum- 
stances. The  Indians  were  always  savages,  and  it  is  unlikely 
that  the  first  men  in  the  Valley  tended  toward  civilization. 

Whence  came  the  first  inhabitants  of  America?  It  is  a 
question  that  has  awakened  great  interest,  and  the  books  that 
have  been  written  on  it  are  to  be  counted  by  thousands.  It 
has  been,  and  is  still,  a  general  impression  that  the  human 
race  originated  in  Asia.  Many  courses  of  inquiry  indicate 
the  highlands  near  the  Caspian  Sea  as  the  point  from  which 
dispersion  commenced  for  the  Old  World  races;  but  the  more 
closely  the  Aborigines  and  ancient  monuments  of  America  are 
studied,  the  more  difficult  does  it  seem  to  make  out  their 
origin.  Books  have  been  written  to  prove  their  descent  from 
almost  every  leading  race  in  Asia  and  Europe;  but  the  more 
exact  studies  of  recent  science  show  that  they  have  no  de- 
tailed likeness  with  any,  and  that  their  separation — if  that 
took  place — must  have  been  accomplished  before  the  original 
stock  had  made  any  important  or  permanent  progress.  In 
color,  languages  and  features  of  character,  viewed  as  a  whole, 
they  are  a  class  apart,  while  the  Old  World  hasybwr  well- 
marked  classes. 

After  these  first  traces  of  man  there  seems  to  be,  as  yet,  a 
long  blank  during  which,  in  Europe,  the  record  is  apparently 
continuous;  but  that  was  a  region  of  limited  and  favorable 
areas  surrounded  with  barriers  which  protected  dawning  im- 
provement, while  America  permitted  wide  dispersion.  This 
circumstance  was  highly  unfavorable  to  steady  advance. 
There  was  too  wide  a  range  over  a  region  abundant  in  spon- 
taneous gifts  to  man,  which,  in  temporary  want  or  danger,  per- 
mitted easy  migration  to  better  supplies  and  greater  security. 


THE    MOUNDS    AND    THEIR    BUILDEKS.  115 

It  is  not  probable  that  American  civilization  commenced  in 
the  Valley.  There  are  dim  traces  of  its  beginning  in  the 
northern  parts  of  South  America,  near  the  Andes  or  among 
them,  and  in  the  confined  regions  of  Central  America. 
Thence,  so  near  as  can  now  be  estimated,  emigrated  a  people 
who  had  made  the  start  in  social  organization  that  bound 
them  too  closely  and  strongly  together  to  permit  them  to  fall 
apart  in  the  vast  spaces  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

These  people  are  called  Mound  Builders.  The  Valley  con- 
tained an  immense  number  of  mounds,  mainly  heaps  of  the 
loose  earth  and  soil,  but  occasionally  entirely  or  partially 
composed  of  stone,  with  a  few  instances  of  supporting  sur- 
faces of  sun-dried  brick.  The  whole  number  found  has  been 
estimated  at  100,000,  more  than  10,000  of  which  were  in 
the  State  of  Ohio,  where  they  were  studied  by  competent 
men  of  science  more  extensively  and  accurately  than  else- 
where. Commencing  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Ohio  they 
extended  westward  to  Nebraska,  from  near  the  lakes  to  the 
Gulf,  and  from  Texas  to  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Florida.  They 
were  mostly  found  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  streams  where  the 
soil  was  richest  and  most  easily  worked ;  seldom  in  the  interior 
or  far  distant  from  those  parts  of  the  branches  of  the  great  river 
system  that  could  be  navigated  by  canoes.  They  appear  to 
have  been  constructed  in  greater  number  and  variety  in  the 
lower  part  of  Ohio;  were  very  numerous  in  the  central  Val- 
ley near  the  Mississippi;  and  were  more  frequently  of  large 
size  further  south.  They  occupied  what  may  be  considered 
the  very  best  parts  of  tlie  Valley  and  those  most  easily  acces- 
sible from  the  main  streams  by  water.  They  varied  somewhat 
in  evident  destination  in  difl'erent  sections,  but  bore  the 
strongest  marks,  without  and  within,  of  a  common  origin. 

Their  location,  their  size,  the  purpose  evident  in  them  and  the 
relics  they  contained  were  found  eloquent  in  descriptions  of  a 
period  and  a  people  wholly  unknown  to  the  modern  Aborigi- 
nes.    No  other  record  of  them  has  been  found  that  is  decisive 


116  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

in  itself,  although  the  traditions,  monuments  and  history  of 
the  Indians  contain  some  traces  apparently  pointing  to  them, 
and  which  help  us  to  some  interesting  probabilities.  Natural 
causes,  working  on  so  large  a  scale  and  with  material  so  plia- 
ble as  the  surface  of  the  Valley,  have  often  produced  curious 
results,  and  it  was  formerly  common  to  attribute  all  the 
mounds  to  sreulogical  causes  that  could  not  be  referred  to 
agency  of  the  Indian  tribes;  but  that  idea  has  never  been 
entertained  by  those  who  have  made  the  more  characteristic 
of  them  a  careful  study.  The  Mound  Builders  have  been 
regarded  as  a  myth  only  by  those  writers  who  had  received 
imperfect  information. 

All  the  facts  thus  for  gathered  furnish  unequivocal  testi- 
mony to  the  existence  in  the  Valley  at  a  period  far  back  in 
the  twilight  of  American  time,  and  probably  also  during 
times  that  were  pre-historic  in  the  Old  World,  of  a  very 
numerous  and  considerably  civilized  population  in  the  Valley. 
This  race  was  evidently  one  controlled  by  the  same  ideas  and 
sympathies,  fairly  uniform  in  mental,  moral  and  social  culture. 
That  culture  was  too  low  in  kind  to  have  led  to  results  so 
extensive  without  settled  institutions  which  must  have  been 
based  on  a  strong  and  vigorously  conducted  government.  The 
evidence  is  also  fairly  conclusive  that  there  was  a  common 
bond  between  all  the  parts  of  this  population  which,  at  the 
grade  of  development  they  had  reached,  must  have  been  a 
central  government.  There  are  many  evidences  of  harmony 
and  none  of  conflict  with  each  other.  "War  was  prepared  for 
only  in  one  region,  and  as  that  was  on  the  extreme  border  the 
danger  must  have  been  from  without. 

It  is  probable  that  this  people  vanished  from  the  Valley  at 
about  the  time  that  authentic  history  began  its  records  in 
Greece,  and  that  their  occupation  of  it  covered  both  the 
Rude  and  Polished  Stone  Ages  of  European  Pro-historic  time. 
It  was,  apparently,  a  long  occupation  by  a  mild,  peaceable 
race  governed  with  vigor  and  considerable  intelligence. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   LABOES    OF    THE    MOUND    BUILDEES. 

The  active  industry  that  has  been  employed  about  a  hundred 
years  in  changing  the  surface  of  the  Valley,  as  the  Mound 
Builders  left  it,  into  a  great  center  of  civilization  and  enter- 
prise, has  removed  many  of  the  monuments  of  this  ancient 
race.  The  graves,  the  altars,  and  the  temples  were  more  nu- 
merous near  many  of  the  present  centers  of  wealth  and  activ- 
ity than  elsewhere.  The  good  sense  of  these  primitive  men 
was  apparently  as  sharp  and  clear  to  advantages  of  situation 
and  value  of  soils  as  the  many-sided  intelligence  of  a  more 
enlightened  people.  It  is  also  another  proof  that  they 
selected  freely ;  that  they  were  not  troubled,  for  the  most  part, 
with  enemies.  They  settled  on  the  best  lands,  and  evidently 
did  not  need  to  fear  the  vicinity  of  the  natural  highway — the 
rivers — which  the  Indians  of  later  times  commonly  avoided 
with  great  care,  as  places  of  residence,  because  likely  to  bring 
enemies  to  the  sudden  ruin  of  their  towns. 

Thus,  the  remnant  of  rains  which  the  wasting  eftect  of  a 
score  and  more  of  centuries  had  spared  was,  in  large  part, 
obliterated  before  their  significance  was  properly  understood. 
If  these  are  added  to  the  multitudes  remaining  and  the  other 
multitudes  which  the  tooth  of  time  had  already  devoured,  we 
shall  have  a  vast  summary  of  toil  invested  by  the  Mound 
Builders  in  their  works.  They  must  have  been  a  very  numer- 
ous and  industrious  people.  The  mounds  represent  only  the 
outlines  and  foundations  of  their  jmblio  works.  Their  private 
dwellings,  the  structures  of  wood  that  surmounted,  were  en- 
closed by,  or  surrounded  these  remains,  were  too  light  and 
temporary  to  be  preserved.     The  labors  of  cultivation  that 

117 


lis  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

secured  food  for  servants  and  attendants  on  these  works,  with 
all  their  painful  toil  in  preparing  tools  under  the  greatest 
disadvantages,  must  have  represented  another  immense  out- 
lay of  human  energy. 

Of  tiie  nearly  twelve  thousand  works  remaining  in  Ohio, 
when  the  general  critical  examination  was  made  in  1845-7, 
fifteen  liundred  were  inclosures.  These  consisted  of  walls, 
sometimes  miles  in  total  length,  surrounding — and  sometimes 
surrounded  by — mounds  of  various  size  and  form,  which,  with 
modern  facilities  for  moving  earth,  would  represent  the  labor 
of  thousands  of  men  and  animals  for  a  great  length  of  time. 
The  inclosures  and  mounds  have  been  classified  as  fortifica- 
tions, temples,  altars,  sepulchres,  signal  stations  and  symbolic 
figures.  Various  circumstances  make  the  aim  in  their  con- 
struction, and  sometimes  their  actual  use  after  they  were  built, 
very  evident  to  the  student  of  them  who  makes  the  study  with 
due  intelligence  and  care.  Too  many  have  been  explored  with 
haste  by  jjersons  who  did  not  suspect  the  great  importance  of 
uncovering  ancient  buried  relics  with  caution  and  leaving  thein 
in  undisturbed  position  until  an  extensive  observation  had 
been  made  and  recorded  of  their  relation  to  each  other  and  to 
their  surroundings;  for  by  these  circumstances  much  of  their 
significance  is  usually  determined.  They  often  reveal  the 
manner  and  the  purpose  of  burial. 

More  than  thirty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  had  passed 
before  the  investigations  of  men  of  science  in  Europe  were 
directed  to  the  buried  traces  of  pre-historic  man  on  that  con- 
tinent, and  the  idea  of  gaining  precise  information  from  such 
studies  was  not  fully  accepted  by  high  scientific  authorities 
until  some  years  after.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
these  mounds,  widely  scattered  in  a  new  country  where  scien- 
tific experts  were  less  numerous  than  in  the  Old  World,  should 
be  little  noticed,  and  never  studied  with  sufiicient  carefulness 
to  discov'er  the  right  key  to  their  revelations.  They  had  not 
been  unnoticed,  however,  and  some  extravagant  theories  con- 


:,'.i 


THK    SURVEY    OF    OHIO    MOUNDS.  119 

cerning  their  origin  had  been  based  on  superficial  observa- 
tions of  tlieir  appearance  and  the  curions  relics  often  found 
in  them.  These  theories  had  little  value,  because  not  founded 
on  sufficiently  minute  and  extended  examination. 

In  1845  a  careful  survev  of  the  mounds  in  Ohio  was  begun 
and  continued  for  two  years,  by  thoroughly  competent  observ- 
ers, with  a  scientific  care  and  accuracy  that  led  to  important 
conclusions.  A  description  of  these  studies,  that  discarded 
vague  suppositions  and  loose  estimates  and  furnished  detailed 
aud  accurate  explanations  of  the  leading  features  of  the 
mounds  and  their  contents,  was  published.  Much  interest 
was  awakened  in  the  scientific  world,  the  mounds  in  all  parts 
of  the  country  were  critically  examined  by  suitable  persons,  and 
the  information  already  gained  was  confirmed  and  extended. 

•  The  information  here  given,  and  the  interesting  inferences 
drawn,  are  gathered  from  these  scientific  records.  Their  accu- 
racy can  not  be  questioned,  for  as  the  number  of  thoroughly 
trained  observers  has  increased  in  recent  years,  the  facts  have 
been  repeatedly  re-studied  and  verified. 

Some  of  the  mounds  were  evidently  military  structures, 
designed  for  defence  against  enemies,  most  of  the  points  forti- 
fied being  selected  with  a  judgment  that  would  do  honor  to  a 
modern  engineer  corps,  and  with  a  lavish  display  of  labor  and 
pains  that  is  extremely  significant.  Fort  Hill,  Ohio,  was  a 
fortress  of  great  strength,  occupying  the  summit  of  a  hill  five 
hundred  feet  high  on  two  of  its  sides,  and  surrounded  with  a 
wall  alone  the  ed<re  of  the  hill,  the  materials  for  which  were 
thrown  up  from  a  deep  ditch  dug  around  the  brow.  The  wall 
and  the  ditch  are  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  in  circuit  and 
enclose  an  area  of  forty-eight  acres.  The  wall,  at  the  more 
accessible  points,  is  said  to  be  still  from  six  to  fifteen  feet  in 
height.  Wiien  examined,  it  was  covered  with  a  heavy  forest 
of  gigantic  trees,  standing  and  fallen,  and  some  of  the  latter 
could  not  have  been  less  than  a  thousand  years  old.  Large 
artificial  reservoirs  for  water  indicate  that  it  was  once  pro- 
vided with  all  the  means  to  stand  a  formidable  siege. 


120  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

Another  defensive  work,  called  Fort  Ancient,  on  the  Little 
Miami  Kiver,  had  walls  nearly  four  miles  in  length,  besides 
mounds,  parallels  and  curtain  walls.  These  were,  when  care- 
fully surveyed  by  a  competent  party  from  Cincinnati,  eighteen 
to  twenty  feet  high  at  exposed  points,  and  the  number  of  cubic 
yards  of  excavation  made  in  constructing  them  was  estimated 
at  nearly  seven  hundred  thousand.  These  are  but  what  remain 
after  the  storms  of  perhaps  thousands  of  years  have  done  their 
best  to  diminish  and  wash  them  away. 

Another,  in  the  Scioto  Valley,  embraces  within  its  defenses 
an  area  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres;  a  stream  was  turned 
out  of  its  course  to  permit  a  complete  circuit  of  wall;  and 
it  includes  mounds  which,  with  the  walls,  contain  three  mil- 
lion culiic  feet  of  earth.  Fortified  and  covered  ways  some- 
times lead  from  fortresses  on  heights  to  the  streams  below. 
Evidences  of  military  foresight  and  skill  in  the  art  of  defence 
are  often  very  striking,  and  indicate  mature  reflection  after 
extensive  experience  as  well  as  command  of  unlimited  labor 
for  long  periods. 

One  military  work  included  between  600,000  and  700,000 
cubic  yards  of  earth  thrown  up;  and  the  system  of  defenses  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  River  is  said  to  be  at  least  twenty 
miles  in  total  length,  though  embracing  not  more  than  two 
hundred  acres  of  inclosure.  Tiiese  defensive  works  are  usually 
on  the  points  of  bluifs  in  bends  of  rivers,  or  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  meeting  of  the  streams.  They  are  usually  in 
the  vicinity  of  numerous  works  of  a  different  character,  indi- 
cating the  presence  of  a  large  population  and  a  center  of  the 
community.  They  were  evidently  designed  to  form  a  pro- 
tecti(Mi,  and  probably,  as  danger  grew  more  threatening, 
became  places  of  retreat  for  the  inhabitants.  Sometimes  these 
inclosures  are  so  extensive,  and  embrace  so  many  mounds  of 
various  form  and  size,  as  to  suggest  that  here  was  a  walled 
town. 

A  curious  implication  of  foresight  and  ability  in  defence  is 


MILITARY    AND    SACRED    INCLOSURES.  121 

found  in  curtain  and  parallel  walls  to  protect  openings  or 
gates  in  the  defenses,  and  to  connect  different  structures.  A 
long  period  of  danger  would  seem  to  have  produced  a  military 
class  and  elaborate  and  intelligent  precautions.  This  idea  is 
supplemented  by  the  frequent  occurrence  of  smallef  works 
on  the  highest  points,  as  if  they  were  outposts  of  larger  for- 
tresses; and  of  elevations  on  the  highest  hills  with  level  tops 
and  traces  of  fire — sites  for  beacon  fires.  If  the  forests  were 
removed  it  is  said  these  could  be  seen  for  many  miles  around. 
By  means  of  these  signal  stations  warning  of  the  approach 
of  danger  could  be  transmitted  over  a  large  region  in  a  few 
minutes. 

These  warlike  indications  are  almost  entirely  confined  to 
the  northeast  section  of  the  Valley,  as  if  danger  only  threat- 
ened from  the  region  lying  between  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario, 
and  the  mountains  of  northwestern  Pennsylvania.  The  most 
warlike  and  vigorous  race  of  Indian  conquerors,  the  Iroquois, 
or  Five  Nations,  were  found  settled  hei-e  in  modern  times. 
A  few  thousand  resohite  warriors  intimidated  half  a  continent 
by  their  expeditions  from  this  point. 

Sacred  inclosures  are  also  numerous  in  the  same  region. 
They  much  more  rarely  occur  further  west,  and  especially 
south.  These  are  commonly  found  on  the  broad  and  beauti- 
ful terraces  of  the  river  bottoms.  They  are  of  various  sizes 
and  forms — square,  circular,  elliptical  and  octagonal.  The 
Newark  Works  cover  hundreds  of  acres,  and  contain  examples 
of  all  these  various  forms  which  are  joined  by  connecting 
walled  avenues  into  one  system. 

A  most  interesting  point  in  connection  with  this  class  of 
inclosures  is  that  they  are  perfect  squares  or  circles  on  a 
large  scale.  There  is,  also,  a  definite  relation  between  the  areas 
of  different  forms.  These  walls,  constructed  with  so  much 
mathematical  precision,  inclose  mounds  of  various  forms  sym- 
metrically arranged.  Unfortunately,  all  this  is  only  sug- 
gestive— not   explanatory.      For   that   explanation   we   must 


122  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

probably  look  to  the  rock  monuments  of  Central  America 
and  Mexico,  wliicli  appear  to  indicate  the  purposes  of  such 
outlines. 

Temple  mounds  are  leveled  on  the  summit.  They  are  of 
various  sizes  and  forms,  but  usually  are  oblong  squares  with 
the  corners  pointing  to  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass. 
Commonly  their  summits  are  reached  l)y  graded  ways.  Some- 
times one  or  more  terraces  intervene  between  the  general 
level  and  the  summit,  all  coimected  together  by  these  graded 
ways.  Often  smaller  mounds  are  found  on  the  top  of  plat- 
form, or  temple  mounds,  of  such  form  or  contents  as  to  sug- 
gest that  they  were,  in  some  cases,  the  foundation  of  build- 
ings, in  others,  altars  of  sacrifice.  These  platform  mounds 
were  much  more  numerous,  and  generally  larger,  toward  the 
south  than  in  the  northeast. 

The  American  Bottom  in  Illinois,  opposite  St.  Louis,  for- 
merly contained  at  least  two  hundred  mounds,  among  which 
was  the  immense  Cahokia  Mound.  It  was  700  feet  long  at 
base,  by  500  wide — nearly  half  a  mile  in  circumference — and 
90  feet  high.  A  graded  way  led  to  a  terrace  300  feet  long 
by  160  wide,  and  the  summit  was  a  platform  460  feet  long 
by  200  wide.  A  conical  mound  of  small  dimensions  but  10 
feet  high  contained  bones,  funereal  vases  and  stone  imple- 
ments. Four  other  smaller  mounds,  similar  in  form,  stood 
near  it  on  the  level  plain;  but  there  was  no  inclosing  wall. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  imposing  religious  rites  were 
celebrated  in  the  temples  of  which  this  vast  mass  was  the 
foundation.  The  mounds  were  very  numerous  in  this  vicin- 
ity. St.  Louis,  the  "Mound  City,"  received  its  popular  name 
from  the  nutnber  formerly  covering  its  site. 

The  whole  immediate  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  from  this 
point,  including  the  lower  valleys  of  its  tributaries,  especially 
on  the  east  side,  was  rich  in  mounds  and  other  indications  of 
a  dense  ancient  population.  Among  them  these  truncated 
pyramids  were  very  numerous.      The   Indian    name  of  the 


TEMPLE   MOUNDS    OF    THE    SOUTH.  123 

Yazoo  River  means  "The  River  of  Ancient  Ruins."  A 
mound  near  Florence,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Tennessee,  was 
described  thirty  j-ears  ago  as  being  built  so  that  its  corners 
exactly  coincided  with  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  It 
was  about  seventy  feet  high,  and  its  base  covered  an  acre  of 
yround.  A  group  of  mounds  in  Chickasaw  County,  Missis- 
>ippi,  described  by  tlie  same  observer  in  1847,  was  surrounded 
by  a  wall  inclosing  six  acres  of  ground.  * 

The  great  mound  at  Seltzertown,  Mississippi,  was  among 
the  largest  and  most  interesting.  It  was  600  feet  long  by  400 
feet  wide  at  base.  Its  top,  of  four  acres  in  extent,  was  reached 
by  a  graded  way.  The  height  of  this  immense  pile  was  forty 
feet.  Three  small  circular  mounds  stood  on  the  top — one  at 
each  end  and  one  at  the  center.  Those  at  the  ends  were 
leveled  at  their  summits.  The  corners  of  the  great  mound 
were  about  in  harmony  with  the  four  principal  points  of  the 
compass,  the  greater  length  being  from  east  to  west.  The 
circular  mound  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  platform  rose 
to  the  height  of  forty  feet,  that  at  the  east  being  somewhat 
less.  Traces  of  eight  other  mounds,  at  regular  distances,  were 
also  visible  on  the  broad  platform.  The  north  side  of  the 
large  mound  was  covered  with  a  wall  of  sun-dried  brick  two 
feet  thick,  and  supporting  angular  tumuli  marked  the  corners 
which  were  covered  by  large  bricks  having  on  them  the  print 
of  human  heads.  Skeletons,  vases,  ashes  and  other  evidences 
of  burnt  offerings,  were  found  by  Dr.  Dickeson,  the  explorer, 
on  the  mound.  A  ditch,  averaging  ten  feet  in  depth  when 
examined,  surrounded  the  huge  mound. 

It  would  require  volumes  to  note  the  descriptions  that  have 
been  given  of  similar  structures  over  the  South.  Although 
extremely  numerous  only  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  its  eastern  tributaries,  they  have  been  found  across 
the  whole  Gulf  slope  to  the  Atlantic  and  a  considerable  dis- 
tance west  of  the  Great  River,  and  always  giving  rise  to  the 
same  suggestions  by  similarity  of  features  and  contents. 


124  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

The  Sacrificial  Mounds  do  not  difier  very  much  from  Burial 
Mounds  in  external  appearance,  but  a  careful  examination  of 
the  interior  reveals  a  striking  unlikeness  and  many  interesting 
and  suggestive  points.  They,  so  far  as  studied,  more  usually 
occur  within  inclosures,  and  have  not  been  much  noticed  by 
explorers  in  the  more  Western  and  the  Southern  Valley. 
This  may,  to  some  extent,  arise  from  the  fact  that  wide-spread 
critical  examination  by  the  same  parties  and  those  thoroughly 
competent,  by  long  experience,  for  that  class  of  inquiries,  has 
been  mostly  confined  to  the  upper  part  of  the  Valley.  There 
have  been  a  great  number  of  excellent  observers  in  the  south, 
but  the  field  of  each  was  restricted  and  they  worked  without 
concert  with  each  other.  It  may,  however,  be  fairly  assumed 
that  if  they  existed  there  they  would  have  been  noticed.  The 
platform,  or  temple,  mounds  are  few  in  the  region  where 
these  altars  are  numerous,  and  where  the  altars  are  absent  the 
temple  mounds  are  the  prevailing  type.  It  may,  therefore, 
be  inferred  that  religious  rites  were  chiefly  practiced  on  these 
elevated  platforms,  where  they  existed,  and  in  structures  on 
them  which  have  mostly  disappeared  under  the  wasting  hand 
of  time. 

Three  circumstances  characterize  the  altar  mounds.  They 
are  within  or  near  sacred  places  or  other  inclosures;  they  are 
always  stratified  in  a  peculiar  way,  and  they  contain  symmet- 
rical platforms  within,  and  generally  not  far  above  the  origi- 
nal base  of  the  mound,  on  whicli  there  are  traces  of  fire  and 
of  various  substances  more  or  less  perfectly  consumed  by  it. 
A  fourth  may  be  mentioned  :  after  frequent,  and  often  evi- 
dently long-continued,  use  they  were  covered  with  earth  and 
became  conical  mounds.  If  this  was  not  always  the  case  the 
exceptions  noted  have  been  few. 

They  are  of  various  sizes  and  shapes,  but  symmetrical — 
usually  formed  of  burned  clay  which  is  often  placed  above  a 
first  layer  of  sand.  A  few  were  formed  of  stone.  One  was 
of  round  selected  cobble-stones  laid  with  much  care  and  art. 


Jfb 


THE  ALTAB   OF    SACKIFICE.  125 

In  form  the  parts  constituting  the  altar  of  sacrifice  were 
round,  elliptical,  square,  or  oblong.  Some  were  barely  two 
feet  across  the  prepared  altar,  while  others  are  stated  to  be 
fifty  feet  long  by  fifteen  wide.  The  usual  diameter  was 
found  to  be  from  five  to  eight  feet.  They  were  nearly  all 
composed  of  fine  clay,  not  found  on  the  spot,  which  com- 
monly rested  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  first  elevation 
not  greatly  exceeding  a  foot.  This  clay  is  usually  burned 
very  hard  through  all  or  most  of  its  depth.  Where  the  evi- 
dence of  fire  was  slight  few  remains  were  found.  Frequently, 
after  long-continued  use  had  burned  it  out,  more  or  less,  a  fresh 
coat  of  clay  was  added — in  some  cases  this  was  done  repeat- 
edly— and  finally  all  was  covered  with  earth,  sometimes  to  a 
depth  of  ten  or  fifteen  feet.  The  final  burial  of  the  whole 
with  earth  appears  to  have  been  made  while  the  fire  was  still 
glowing,  and  thus  many  tragmeuts  of  perishable  material, 
after  having  become  charred  but  not  burned,  were  the  more 
perfectly  preserved.  The  burnt  ofl'erings  made  on  these  altars 
were  exceedingly  various,  and  must  have  included  much  that 
was  most  precious  to  the  ancient  worshippers. 

Human  bones,  more  or  less  consumed,  and  sometimes  en- 
tirely consumed  and  to  be  detected  only  by  analysis  of  the 
ashes,  wei-e  quite  commonly  found.  As  the  ashes  often  con- 
tain traces  of  consumed  vegetables  and  charred  maize,  it  is 
inferred  that  they  made  the  offering  of  B^irst  Fruits  to  their 
deity — so  common  among  the  early  nations  of  the  Old  World. 
In  some  cases  the  charred  remains  of  cloth  were  found  and  a 
great  variety  of  ornaments,  weapons,  tools  and  specimens  of 
what  must  have  been  high  art  in  those  days,  at  least  to 
them. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Scioto  River,  in  Ohio,  near  Chillicothe, 
was  a  sacred  inclosure  apparently  devoted  to  altar  worship.  It 
contained  thirteen  acres,  over  which  were  distributed  twenty- 
four  mounds.  One  of  these  was  one  hundred  and  fortj^  feet 
in  length  by  sixty  in  greatest  breadth.     They  all  contained 


V2Q  '  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

altars,  on  whicli  were  the  calcined  remains  of  an  extremely 
large  number  and  variety  of  offerings.  It  is  called  '•  Mound 
City."  A  singular  feature  of  these  altars  was  that  a  different 
class  of  offerings  was  found  in  each.  One  contained  luindreds 
of  pipes  and  little  else;  another,  pottery  and  copper  (»r  stone 
ornauients;  another,  shells;  discs  of  hornstone,  to  the  number 
of  thousands,  were  found  in  one;  some  contained  only  a  layer 
of  ashes.  A  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from  this  was  an  in- 
closure  of  twenty-eight  acres,  with  an  outer  fosse  or  ditch.  It 
was  evidently  a  walled  town,  and  some  circumstances  sug- 
gested that  it  once  contained  the  residences  of  the  priesthood 
attendant  on  the  sacred  inclosure  near  by.  In  the  center  of 
this  defensive  work  was  a  sacrificial  mound.  The  altar  of  this 
mound  was  very  elaborately  built.  The  base  was  of  sand 
packed  tight  in  an  excavation  made  in  the  soil  eight  inches 
deep.  This  excavation  was  a  circle  thirteen  feet  in  diameter, 
and  burnt  offerings  of  meu  or  animals  appear  to  have  been 
made  on  this  compacted  sand.  The  ashes  had  been  removed 
but  the  sand  was  discolored,  apparently  by  fatty  matter,  and 
burned  hard,  so  as  to  be  black  and  strongly  cemented  on  the 
surface.  Another  layer  of  sand  was  then  laid  over  it  of  the 
same  thickness  but  only  seven  feet  in  diameter,  which  was 
paved  with  round  stones  a  little  larger  than  a  hen's  egg,  laid 
with  the  utmost  precision  and  firmly  bedded  in  the  sand. 
Ashes,  apparently  the  cinders  of  a  human  bod}',  rested  on  this 
pavement  with  two  heaps  of  bracelets  encircling  some  bones 
not  quite  reduced  to  ash — five  bracelets  in  each.  Two  thick 
plates  of  mica  were  the  only  other  ornaments  found.  These 
were  first  covered  with  a  layer  of  sand  and  then  the  whole  was 
covered  with  earth,  forming  a  circular  mound.  Occasionally 
a  "  brick  hearth,"  appearing  to  be  one  of  these  altars  not  yet 
covered  over,  seems  to  intimate  that  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Mound  Builders  were  suddenly  interrupted  and  never  resumed 
— very  likely  by  the  final  catastrophe  that  drove  them  from 
their  pleasant  homes  in  the  Valley.     It  thus  appears  that  the 


THE  EEVELATIONS  OF  THE  ALTARS.  127 

altar  mounds  were  substitutes  for  the  temples  or  platform 
mounds,  on  whose  summits,  as  on  the  Mexican  Teocallis  and 
Peruvian  Huacas,  religious  rites  were  performed.  These 
Mexican  truncated  pyramids,  on  one  of  which  the  captive 
companions  of  Cortez  were  offered  in  sacrifice,  would  now 
reveal  few  traces  of  the  rites  seen  and  recorded  by  the  con- 
queror and  his  followers.  These  altars,  so  carefully  buried, 
contain  information  that  would  without  them  have  been  wholly 
lost  to  us.  How  little  would  have  remained,  after  two  or 
three  thousand  years  of  neglect  and  decay  to  show  the  true 
character  of  Aztec  civilization  and  religious  rites,  notwith- 
standing that  tlieir  monuments  were  of  more  durable  material 
than  the  mounds  of  the  Valley  !  These  altars,  so  carefully 
and  suddenly  buried  in  the  very  moment  of  the  crisis  finishing 
their  ceremonies,  aid  to  throw  light  on  tlie  forest-buried  tem- 
ples of  Uxmal  and  Palenque  and  other  ancient  cities  of 
Central  America,  and  show  how  the  mound  foundations  of 
those  edifices  and  the  teocallis  of  Mexico  originated. 

The  mounds  serving  as  tombs  are  extremely  numerous  in 
most  parts  of  the  Valley.  In  the  section  that  has  been  most 
critically  examined,  however,  they  seem  to  be  less  numerous, 
and,  in  general,  they  were  probably  the  burial  places  only  of 
the  more  distinguished  of  the  people.  Tlie  common  mass  of 
the  population  must  have  consisted  of  virtual  slaves,  who  had 
neither  the  aspiration  nor  time  to  produce  such  costly  tombs. 

A  large  part  of  these  burials  were  accompanied  by  tlie  use 
of  fire.  Cremation  was  extensively  practiced  by  the  Mound 
Builders.  The  sepulchral  mounds  are  variable  in  size — from 
six  to  eighty  feet  in  height.  S(jmetimes  a  large  one  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  smaller  ones,  and  sometimes  they 
crowd  on  one  another  and  seem  to  overlap,  as  if  to  show  more 
clearly  the  intimate  relations  of  the  group.  AYhere  fire  has 
been  employed  it  appears  to  have  been  covered  still  more  sud- 
denly than  that  of  the  altars,  while  in  full  glow,  so  that  often 
the  charred   coals  of  the  wood,  with  few  ashes,  still  remain. 


128  .  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

With  the  dead  were  also  buried  tlie  personal  ornaments  of  the 
deceased,  and  some  of  his  more  valued  treasures.  Necklaces 
of  pearl,  or  beads  made  from  shells,  are  sometimes  found  in 
great  numbers,  and  where  the  body  was  not  burned  it  is  seen 
that  they  encircled  the  neck  or  arms  of  the  corpse  when  it 
was  interred. 

In  some  cases  where  the  V)ody  was  buried  without  burning 
we  have  a  hint  of  the  long  time  that  has  passed  since  the  for- 
mation of  the  mound.  In  England  skeletons  known  to  have 
been  buried  in  "Barrows,"  as  the  ancient  mounds  are  there 
called,  1,800  years  ago,  have  been  found  whole  and  firm.  This 
is  rarely  or  never  the  case  in  the  Valley  in  the  driest  and  most 
favorable  situations.  On  a  point  of  the  third  terrace,  about 
one  hundred  feet  above  the  Scioto  River,  was  a  burial  mound 
twenty-two  feet  high.  The  body  had  been  protected  by  a  rude 
sarcopiiagus  of  logs,  with  a  floor  of  matting  or  boards.  Of 
this  wood  only  the  crumbled  dust  remained,  although  the  dry 
compact  earth  still  retained  the  cast  of  the  logs,  and  the  frame 
of  the  corpse  turned  to  ashes  at  the  first  touch  of  tlie  air. 
Several  hundred  beads,  made  from  shells  and  the  ivory  tusk 
of  some  animal,  had  the  appearance  of  being  wrought  by 
turning  rather  than  b}'  hand.  The  appearance  of  fire  was,  in 
this  case,  at  some  distance  from  the  body,  indicating  some 
ceremony  by  fii'e  other  than  that  of  cremation. 

The  ornaments  and  other  valuables  buried  with  the  dead 
must  have  been  more  costly  and  precious  to  them  than  gold 
would  be  to  us.  The  material  was  usually  brought  from  a 
great  distance  and  wrought  with  infinite  pains  and  great  skill. 
It  is  remarked  that  the  presence  of  warlike  implements  in  the 
graves  of  the  dead  is  a  rare  exception,  which  speaks  volumes 
for  their  peaceable  cliaracter  aud  generally  quiet  life.  The 
same  absence  of  military  signs  and  trophies  has  been  noticed 
in  the  ruins  of  Central  America.  Often  pieces  of  mica  were 
disposed  about  the  dead,  sometimes  pieces  of  cloth  are  not 
fully  decayed,  and  feather  garments  have  been  found. 


THE    CONTENTS    OF    BURIAL    MOUNDS.  129 

But  tliev  did  not  alwaj-s  lionoi'  the  dead  by  burying  valued 
urnauients  with  tlieni.  Jndeed,  it  is  declared  not  to  have  been 
the  case  as  a  more  general  rule.  Sometimes  a  multitude  of 
bones  are  fonnd  in  one  mound;  sometimes  the  bones  of  many 
persons  are  so  disposed  about  the  principal  person  or  persons 
as  to  intimate  that  they  were  per.^oiial  attendants  or  close 
friends,  shiin  in  their  honor,  as  Mas  done  by  the  Peruvians  and 
other  nations.  Urn  burial  was  much  practiced  in  the  Central 
and  Southern  Valley,  and  often  a  simple  sarcophagus  of  flat 
stones  protects  the  remains.  In  a  few  such  cases  skulls  have 
been  preserved  to  make  some  interesting  revelations  concern- 
ing the  mental  qualities  of  the  race.  The  "Grave  Creek 
Mound,"  at  the  junction  of  Grave  Creek  with  the  Ohio,  in 
West  Virginia,  has  acquired  much  celebrity  by  its  size  and 
some  of  the  significant  circumstances  connected  with  it.  It 
was  seventy  feet  high,  nine  hundred  feet  in  circumference  and 
had  two  vaults — one  thirty  feet  above  the  other.  Two  skele- 
tons were  in  the  lower  and  more  elaborate  vault,  one  surrounded 
by  beads,  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  number,  and  an  ivory  or 
bone  ornament.  The  other  had  no  ornaments.  The  single 
skeleton,  in  the  upper  vault,  was  accompanied  by  more  than 
3,000  beads  and  other  pieces  of  ornament.  The  largest  num- 
ber of  the  burial  mounds  were  small  and  the  objects  found 
with  the  human  bones  not  very  numerous. 

Many  mounds  appear  to  have  been  observatories  or  places 
for  building  signal  tires;  some  are  inexplicable,  as  yet;  and 
many  appear  to  be  symbolic,  though  the  idea  to  be  conveyed 
is  not  very  clear  to  us.  They  are  mostly  in  regions  outside 
the  range  of  the  mass  of  mounds.  These  are  "  animal 
mounds,"  so-called,  representing  birds,  beasts  and  the  human 
form  in  relief,  on  the  level  surface  of  the  country.  Most  of 
thsm  are  found  in  Wisconsin,  where  they  contain  almost  no 
reiics,  and  it  is  difiic\;lt  to  imajrine  any  reasonable  cause  for 
the  expenditure  of  so  much  labor.  Almost  none  of  the  kinds 
•of  mounds  found  elsewhere  exist  in  their  neighborhood. 
9 


130  TUE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Several  of  these  animal  mounds  are  found  in  Ohio,  where  they 
appear  to  have  had  some  important  religious  significance. 
One,  the  figure  of  a  bird  with  outstretched  wings,  between 
one  and  two  hundred  feet  in  its  two  longest  measurements, 
was  located  in  the  center  of  a  sacred  inclosure,  and  was  evi- 
dently used  as  the  altar  of  sacrifice.  Of  two  others  in  difl^er- 
ent  localities  and  on  the  summit  of  eminences,  one  was  in  the 
form  of  an  alligator,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  and  evi- 
dently originally  finished  with  great  nicety.  The  other  rep- 
resented a  serpent,  fully  one  thousand  feet  long,  with  the  jaws 
extended  in  the  act  of  swallowing  a  huge  object  believed  to 
represent  an  egg.  These  are  probably  all  symbols  of  some 
thought,  event,  or  object  of  especial  veneration,  but  of  what 
is  uncertain. 

The  few  objects  found  in  the  Wisconsin  mounds  are  exactly 
similar  to  those  of  other  classes  of  mounds,  and  those  of  Ohio 
seem  evidently  wrought  by  the  same  hands  that  produced 
the  others  which  abound  in  sight  of  them.  Perhaps  some 
clew  may  yet  be  found  to  their  meaning.  The  serpent  sym- 
bol was  much  used  among  the  Peruvians. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  race  of  the  Mounds  did  a  vast 
amount  of  labor  not  connected  with  the  necessities  of  daily 
life.  Much  of  this  work  formed  in  the  soft  soil  must  have 
melted  away,  and  perhaps  shows  as  little  of  the  original 
amount  as  the  present  ruins  of  Babylon  display  of  the  origi- 
nal vast  magnitude  of  the  City  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Life  was 
far  more  orderly  and  laborious  than  with  any  American 
races  known  to  us  save  those  of  Peru,  Central  America  and 
Mexico,  who,  in  some  points,  exceeded  in  the  elaborateness 
of  their  civilization  that  of  their  European  conquerors. 

A  thorough  examination  of  the  character,  habits,  languages 
and  traditions  of  Indians  furnishes  very  complete  proof  that 
the  mounds  could  not  have  been  made  by  their  ancestors. 
The  tril)es  found  in  North  America,  though  differing  from 
each   other  in  a   multitude   of   subordinate  ways,  had  very 


THE  MOUNDS  WEEE  NOT  MADE  BT  INDIANS.       131 

striking  general  similarities,  and  in  none  of  them  were  the 
traits  revealed  by  the  mounds  of  their  builders  paralleled. 
Possibly  a  single  exception  should  be  made  in  the  case  of  the 
[Natchez;  but  they  were  few  in  number,  and  their  tribal  organ- 
ization was  broken  up  before  they  had  been  much  studied. 
It  is  said  that  their  traditions  referred  their  origin  and  former 
home  to  the  borders  of  Mexico.  At  least  they  appear  to  have 
liad  no  history  to  give  of  the  origin  of  the  mounds.  If  they 
W£re  a  branch  of  the  ancient  Mound  Builder  race  they  must 
liave  been  almost  completely  degenerate. 

The  Indians  were  quite  incapable  of  the  vast  labors  which 
produced  these  structures,  nor  was  there,  from  whatever  side 
they  were  viewed,  any  trace  of  degeneracy  or  change  of  direc- 
tion in  their  qualities  and  manner  of  life.  They  were  all  of 
one  piece,  so  to  speak.  Their  social,  political  and  traditional 
policies  were  harmonious,  and  showed  them  to  be  true  chil- 
dren of  nature;  the  original  untutored  and  savage  instinct  was 
completely  crystallized.  They  had  no  account  to  render  con- 
cerning the  mounds,  and  had  in  no  respect  an  affinity  for 
the  condition  of  society  under  which  they  must  have  been 
produced. 

The  Indians  sometimes  had  fortifications,  they  had  burial 
rites,  occasionally  they  produced  monuments  and  some  few 
sculptures  and  works  of  art;  but  there  was  a  wider  difference 
between  them  and  the  products  of  the  Mound  Builders  than 
between  the  last  and  the  results  of  modern  civilization.  In 
those  points  relating  to  the  absolute  necessities  of  a  hunter's 
life  they  had  some  skill,  but  in  every  other  direction  rudeness 
:ind  simplicity  were  absolute.  They  were  very  strong  in  many 
of  their  mental  traits,  but  strong  precisely  where  the  Mound 
Builders  were  weak,  and  that  strength  was  all  employed  to 
resist  progress  toward  civilization.  Ko  hint  in  institutions, 
in  mental  qualities,  or  in  language,  authorizes  the  supposition 
that  their  race  could  have  been  bent  from'  its  original  wild- 
ness    so    as    to    develop    a    primitive   civilization   and    then 


132  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAXLEY. 

recover  its  original  tone  and  quality.  Had  this  been  the 
case  it  would  have  been  an  anomaly  in  history.  In  fact, 
every  known  law  of  mental  philosophy  opposes  the  supposi- 
tion, as  do  also  all  the  facts  yet  collected. 

The  race  of  the  Mounds  much  more  resembles  the  early 
Chaldeans  and  Egyptians,  while  the  Indians  resemble  more 
nearly,  in  several  points,  the  nomads  of  Arabia,  the  indomit- 
able descendants  of  the  hunter  Esau,  "  whose  hand  was 
against  every  man."  Only  a  race  of  slaves  submitting  quietly 
to  absolute  authority  can  be  organized  and  compelled  to  pro- 
duce such  vast  and  numerous  monuments  of  a  primitive 
people. 

A  more  favorable  train  of  influences  would  perhaps  have 
reproduced  in  the  American  Indian  the  history  of  the  strong- 
willed  and  enterprising  Teutonic  race  of  Europe.  But  the 
American  lacked  the  modifying  elements  which  Western  Asia, 
Southern  Europe  and  Northern  Africa  exerted  on  the  wan- 
derers of  the  Steppes  and  the  rude  warriors  of  the  German 
forests. 


BURIAL  UHN,  INDIANA. 


SKULL  OF  MOUND-BUILDER,  INDIANA. 


I 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    CHARACTER     OF    THE     MOUND    BUILDERS     AND     THEIR 

INSTITUTIONS. 

With  the  lapse  of  years,  and  by  the  increasing  exactness  and 
caution  of  investigation  that  has  been  noticed  as  a  special 
feature  of  the  last  half-century,  some  indications  of  the  mental 
condition  of  the  Mound  Builders  have  been  fairly  established. 
It  required  much  study  and  care  to  distinguish  between  the 
skulls  of  the  old  Mound  Builders  and  the  modern  Indians, 
who  sometimes  buried  their  dead  in  the  moimds;  but  after  a 
time  these  ''  intrusive  burials,"  as  they  are  called,  were  found 
to  be  so  unlike  the  original  ones  as  to  be  easily  distinguished 
by  a  competent  observer,  and  a  very  marked  difference  was 
noticed  between  the  crania  of  the  earlier  and  later  race.  By 
the  persevering  researches  of  able  men  many  skulls,  unques- 
tionably those  of  the  Builders  of  the  Mounds,  have  been  col- 
lected, and  the  information  they  convey  made  out. 

They  had  a  retreating  forehead,  and  the  mass  of  the  brain 
was  about  as  much  less  than  that  of  the  modern  Indian  as  his  is 
less  than  that  of  the  modern  European.  The  Mound  Builders 
were  not  an  intellectual  race.  It  was  long  questioned  whether 
this  low  forehead  was  not  due  to  the  fashion  of  applying 
external  pressure  to  it  in  infancy,  as  has  been  practiced  by 
the  Flathead  Indians  and  some  other  American  tribes;  but  the 
conclusion  has  been  reached  that  this  was  not  the  case. 
Sculpture  in  the  ancient  ruins  of  Central  America  reveals  the 
same  type  of  head,  and  various  facts  intimate  that  it  was 
the  natural  form  of  the  skull.  On  the  other  hand,  the  distri- 
bution of  the  brain,  which  has  much  to  do  with  the  tendencies 
and  capabilities  of  character,  were  favorable.     The  arrange- 

133 


134  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAI.LKY. 

merit  of  the  brain  in  the  European  favors  tlie  intellectual 
faculties;  in  the  Indian  brain-force  is  more  largely  distributed 
to  the  animal  faculties.  The  proportions  of  the  skull  in  the 
Mound  Builder  indicate  that  his  intelligence  was  not  over- 
borne by  strong  and  fierce  passions.  In  this  respect  the  hints 
of  the  Mounds  are  fully  sustained. 

A  mild  and  rather  feeble  character  rendered  him  an  easy 
prey  to  the  influence  of  authority.  The  Indian  had  a  strong 
personal  will  and  a  strength  of  passions  that  would  not  tolerate 
arbitrary  control;  while  the  race  of  the  Mound  submitted  to 
it  without  resistence.  This  permitted  a  strong  organization 
and  the  massing  of  activities  and  labor  under  the  control  of 
one  will,  which  was  indispensable  to  the  commencement  of 
civilization.  The  skull  corroborates  the  testimony  of  the 
Mounds  that  they  were  not  warlike.  They  were  like  the 
Peruvians,  indisposed  to  contest  but  submissive  to  command, 
and  when  they  did  fight  probably  preferred  to  do  so  behind 
entrenchments. 

A  vigorous,  progressive  civilization  requires  vehement  pas- 
sions controlled  by  a  strong  intelligence.  The  primitive  and 
partial  culture  we  see  here  is  the  natural  product  of  a  quiet, 
inofiensive  race,  limited  equally  in  their  passions  and  intelli- 
gence, but  easily  lield  to  the  discipline  that  would  result 
finally  inconsiderable  skill.  This  submissiveness  and  patient 
persistence,  so  contrary  to  the  nature  of  the  Indian,  was  fully 
competent  to  produce  all  the  monuments  and  works  of  art 
whose  remnants  we  find  in  the  mounds. 

For  the  most  part  they  must  have  been  of  ordinary  or  medium 
size.  It  is  notapoint  easy  to  verify,  for  they  very  often  reduced 
the  body  to  ashes,  or  nearly  so,  by  fire  during  the  funeral  cere- 
mony, and  where  this  was  not  the  case  the  bones  were  so  much 
decayed  as  to  crumble  into  dust  when  exposed  to  the  air.  There 
have,  however,  been  few  indications  of  variation  from  the  usual 
standard  of  size  sufficient  to  attract  attention.  In  the  demoli- 
tion of  a  large  mound  at  St.  Louis  bones  were  found  indicating 


PHYSICAL    QUALITIES    OF    MOCXD    BUILDERS.  135 

that  the  persons  in  life  had  been  rather  above  the  ordinary 
stature.  In  Illinois,  below  tliat  city,  many  years  ago  ^  series 
of  graves  under  low  mounds  were  found,  in  which  the  skele- 
tons were  small,  and  it  was  supposed  that  a  race  of  pigmies 
had  been  found.  As  in  many  other  cases,  at  different  points 
in  the  Yalley,  these  bodies  were  protected  by  flat  stones  which 
were  so  placed  as  to  form  a  coffin  or  sarcophagus.  As  no 
similar  cases  of  diminutive  skeletons  have  been  discovered, 
except  where  they  were  evidently  relics  of  children,  it  is  in- 
ferred that  these  were  not  adults.  The  crania  which  have  been 
preserved  indicate  ordinary  size.  Their  choice  of  the  most 
fertile  localities  in  the  Valley  and  their  ability  to  devote  so 
much  labor  to  purposes  apart  from  the  struggle  for  the  means 
of  subsistence  indicate  that  they  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  plenty 
and  were  possessed  of  abundant  physical  vigor. 

The  Peruvian  mummies,  preserved  in  large  numbers,  show 
that  people  to  have  been  of  small  stature;  but  they  lived 
mostly  in  the  rarified  air  of  a  mountain  plateau.  There  is 
much  to  indicate  that  the  Mound  Builders  were  strong  and 
healthy,  that  there  were  many  leisured  classes,  and  that  par- 
ties from  the  Ohio  and  the  Lower  Mississippi  visited  the  mines 
of  Lake  Superior,  the  shores  of  the  Gulf,  the  mountains  of 
North  Carolina  and  of  New  Mexico.  The  general  tone  of 
revelation  by  the  Mounds  shows  us  a  quiet,  industrious  people, 
developing,  for  the  most  part,  in  undisturbed  peace  and  plenty, 
whose  strongest  passions  were  connected  with  the  religious 
sentiment.  They  had  much  taste  in  the  minor  arts  and  a 
good  deal  of  personal  vanity  as  indicated  by  the  profusion  of 
well-wrought  ornaments  found  in  many  of  the  sepulchral 
mounds. 

The  evidences  of  a  settled  government  are  very  positive, 
although  based  only  on  inference.  The  untutored  instincts  of 
the  primitive  man  are  those  of  the  animal.  He  knows  no 
higher  law  than  his  own  necessities  and  owns  no  control  but 
that  of  his  own  willful  caprice.    Only  outward  pressure,  which 


136  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

he  finds  no  adequate  means  of  resisting,  can  overcome  his  love 
of  leisure,  when  a  supply  of  food  has  rendered  him  comfortable 
in  body.  To  renounce  control  of  himself  and  to  accept  the 
will  of  another  as  the  law  of  his  life  requires  much  time  and 
a  stead}'  pressure  until  submission  becomes  a  well-settled 
habit.  This  habit  is  that  of  being  governed,  and  it  is  only 
when  a  government  has  grown  to  the  full  proportions  of  an 
institution  and  all  the  resources  of  the  people  are  unhesitat- 
ingly placed  in  its  hand  that  it  can  lay  broad  plans  and  carry 
them  out  in  detail.  In  this  view  the  very  existence  of  the 
mounds  is  proof  of  a  strong  government. 

When  we  find  fortifications,  deliberately  and  wisely  planned, 
requiring  the  painful  toil  of  many  thousands  of  men  for 
months  or  years,  we  can  not  well  escape  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  obeying  an  authority  which  exerted 
a  sovereign  control  over  the  lives  and  property  of  the  people. 
This  is  still  more  strongly  the  case  when  we  see  a  sacred 
inclosure  drawn  around  an  intricate  but  harmonious  series  of 
immense  works  covering  more  than  your  square  miles  of 
surface  with,  square,  circular,  elliptical  and  octagonal  inclos- 
ures,  great  mounds  and  long-drawn  avenues  included  within 
what  must,  originally,  have  been  lofty  walls. 

The  evidence  is  tolerably  clear  that  all  the  mounds  in  the 
Valley  were  built  by  a  homogeneous  people.  The  same 
ideas  were  ])lainly  involved  in  them  all.  They  vary  in  dif- 
ferent parts,  more  or  less,  yet  they  intermingle  and  melt 
one  into  the  other;  no  distinct  line  separates  them.  If  the 
inclosure  is  chiefly  characteristic  of  the  region  north  of  the 
Ohio,  and  the  platform  mound,  ortruncated  ])yraniid,more  pre- 
vails at  the  south,  the  inclosure  is  S(jmetimes  found  from  Mis- 
sissippi to  Georgia,  and  the  elevated  platform  still  more  often 
appears  in  the  Northern  Valley.  Only  a  friendly  sjjirit,  union 
of  interests  and  intimate  intercourse  would  lead  them  to  avoid 
interiors  ajul  select  the  most  accessible  river  valleys  for  their 
chief  settlements.     They  certainly  had  nothing  to  fear  from 


KVinENCES    OF    A    GENERAL    GOVERNMENT.  137 

each  other  which  could  not  liave  been  the  case  had  various 
governments  controlled  on  the  Scioto,  the  AVabash,  the  Upper 
and  Lower  Mississippi.  Independent  governments  are  neces- 
sary rivals  in  the  early  stages  of  civilization.  The  absolute 
rulers  over  nations  of  submissive  slaves  can  not  tolerate  ambi- 
tion in  each  other. 

It  seems  probable  that  a  peaceful  union  existed  on  a 
religious  base,  as  in  ancient  Egypt,  and  that  the  kingly  and 
priestly  offices  concentrated  supreme  control  in  one  person,  ab 
in  Peru.  The  fable  of  a  descent  from  the  Sun  has  secured  a 
long  and  quiet  lease  of  power  to  the  royal  families  of  various 
primitive  nations  on  each  continent.  The  indications  seem 
to  point  to  some  similar  fiction  among  the  race  of  the 
Mounds,  and  this  joined  the  Valley  in  a  harmony  and 
quiet  unbroken  till  danger  from  the  northeast,  in  the  later 
days  of  their  history,  rose  in  formidable  proportions,  leading 
to  the  construction  of  the  numerous  fortifications  from  the 
Alleghany  River  to  the  Wabash.  Their  size  and  elaborate 
structure  intimate  powerful  enemies  and  the  danger  of  fre- 
quent attacks,  while  various  hints  of  a  sudden  catastrophe 
suggest  an  overthrow  so  complete  that  no  prolonged  stand 
was  made  in  the  lower  Valley. 

It  would  be  very  natural  that  the  seat  of  government  should 
be  near  tlie  meeting  of  the  two  great  streams,  on  which  were 
the  principal  masses  of  the  people,  and  that  the  finest  art 
relics  should  be  found  in  that  neighborhood.  This  last  has 
actually  been  the  case,  in  some  lines.  The  signs  of  a  dense 
population  are  numerous  while  the  absense  of  fortifications 
intimates  that  no  danger  was  apprehended,  the  line  of  the 
Wabash  containing  the  nearest  defensive  works. 

One  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  if  the  ancient  history  is 
to  be  relied  on,  was  built  by  the  labor  of  three  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  men,  continued  for  twenty  years.  The  great 
mound  of  Cahokia  was  one  third  the  size  of  the  great 
pyramid  of  Egypt,  and  several  mounds  in  the  Valley  equal 


138  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

in  cubic  contents  many  of  the  pyramids  of  smaller  size. 
Common  consent,  witlioiit  other  pressure,  or  despotic  tribal 
governments  that  should  have  produced  these  great  monu- 
ments, so  numerous,  so  wide-spread,  and  bearing  throughout 
the  stamp  of  common  ideas,  would  be  impossible  anomalies 
in  history.  The  monuments  of  Peru  and  Mexico  were  due  to 
general  governments  which  controlled  the  details  of  private 
life  and  held  the  mass  of  the  citizens  as  virtual  slaves.  It 
was  undoubtedly  the  same  in  the  Valley. 

The  numbers  of  this  race  must  have  been  very  large — some 
millions,  at  least.  The  size  of  the  inclosures  north  of  the 
Ohio  testifies  emphatically  to  the  presence  of  multitudes.  A 
sacred  inclosure  extending  over  four  scjuare  miles  was  but  one 
of  scores  in  the  Valley  of  a  small  tributary  of  the  Ohio. 
There  seems  good  reason  to  infer  that  at  least  a  million 
people  inhabited  this  part  of  Ohio  and  its  immediate  vicinity. 
Many  thousand  must  have  been  gathered  about  every  large 
platform  mound.  These  evidences  of  a  large  population 
extend  from  the  branches  of  the  Alleghany  River  to  the  Gulf 
— a  distance  of  2,400  miles — running  back  on  the  tributary 
streams  sometimes  hundreds  of  mUes  with  numerous  centers 
evidently  crowded  with  people.  It  was  no  thinly  scattered 
population  that  left  so  many  enduring  traces  of  their  presence 
along  the  thousands  of  miles  of  river  valley. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  they  commenced  their  labors  on 
the  Ohio  and  its  branches,  and,  being  driven  thence  by  fierce 
northern  tribes,  retreated  down  the  Valley.  Many  facts,  how- 
ever, are  not  in  keeping  with  this  supposition.  Nothing  is 
more  striking  in  regard  to  the  relics  of  the  Ohio  mounds  than 
their  southern  origin.  Much  the  larger  portion,  in  numbers, 
were  from  southern  waters.  The  pearls,  the  beads,  nuide  from 
shells  found  only  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf,  the  mica,  exten- 
sively mined  in  the  mountains  of  the  southeast,  and  the  ob- 
sidian, from  those  of  the  southwest,  indicate  a  lively  trade 
with  those  regions.    Besides,  how  could  the  rich  valleys  of  the 


thp:  whole  valley  occupied  at  once.  13!> 

lower  streams  with  tlieir  milder  climate  have  failed  tij  attract 
settlement  when  thej  could  be  reached  from  the  north  simply 
by  committing  themselves  in  primitive  canoes  to  the  current 
of  the  great  streams? 

The  expulsion  of  the  Mound  Builders  from  the  north,  where 
they  developed  so  much  talent  for  military  defence,  should  be 
indicated  by  a  repetition  of  those  defences  if  they  made  a  per- 
manent stand  bel(jw;  but  of  tiiis  there  is  no  trace.  Theyi 
were  evidently  h)ng  threatened  from  the  northeast,  while  the 
inhabitants  of  the  central  and  lower  Valley  dwelt  in  security; 
but  the  danger  suddenly  burst  out  in  uncontrollable  fury. 
The  miners  left  their  work  incomplete  on  Lake  Superior;  the 
fortresses  were  stormed  and  only  a  small  part  of  the  popula- 
tion about  them  probably  escaped  the  general  massacre.  The 
remnant  rushed  down  the  Valley  pursued  by  the  triumphant 
foe,  and  the  Mound  Builders  Empire  8uddenly  collapsed.  This 
history  has  often  been  repeated  among  the  primitive  nations. 
Just  so  the  Empire  of  Montezuma  fell,  and  the  wise  rule  of 
the  powerful  Incas  of  Peru  ended  in  sudden  ruin. 

A  general  unity  and  coincident  occupation  of  the  whole 
Valley  is  most  probable,  and  this  implies  a  very  large  popula- 
tion. This  large  population  of  unwarlike  people  would  be  iu> 
argument  against  sudden  annihilation.  Ale.xander  conquered 
the  countless  hosts  of  the  Persian  Empire  with  thirty  thousand 
men,  and  the  Aztecs  and  Peruvians  were  overthrown  by  a  few 
hundred  European  warriors.  The  savages  by  whom  this  Val- 
ley Empire  must  have  been  conquered  probably  pursued  the 
same  policj'  as  the  Iroquois  of  later  times.  Three  distant 
branches  of  their  own  race,  which  were  settled  in  Upper 
Canada  between  the  Lakes,  and  on  the  southern  shore  of  Erie. 
were  suddenly  attacked  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  and  arinihilated.  The  dawning  missions  among  the 
Hurons,  from  which  the  Jesuits  hoped  so  much,  were  suddenly 
destroyed.  Their  presence  and  counsels  and  French  protection 
could  save  but  a  miserable  remnant  of  a  once  powerful  tribe. 


140  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

If  the  numerous  and  elaborate  works  of  the  Yalley  prove  a 
large  population  they  also  furnish  the  strongest  evidence  that 
the  crowded  population  could  depend  on  abundant  supplies  of 
food.  No  hunter  race  could  exist  in  such  numbers  or  be 
brought  under  a  control  so  complete  as  to  give  origin  to  the 
Mounds.  The  Indian  tribes  followed  the  game  in  its  migra- 
tions, had  only  temporary  residences,  and  could  not  spare  time 
if  they  had  possessed  the  inclination  for  such  labors.  The 
Mound  Builders  had  a  keen  eye  to  agricultural  productiveness, 
and  all  the  sites  of  their  works  were  located  in  the  most  fertile 
alluvial  basins.  The  occurrence  of  mounds  of  observation  and 
signal  stations  on  prominent  points,  which  were  concealed  and 
useless  by  the  heavy  forests  on  and  around  them,  hints  that 
the  forest  had  been  removed  before  the  time  of  their  erection. 
The  heavy  timber  had  been  cut  down  and  in  its  place,  without 
doubt,  were  vast  fields  of  corn  and,  perhaps,  other  grains. 

The  occurrence  of  charred  corn  on  the  altars  of  sacrifice 
seems  to  turn  this  supposition  into  certainty.  The  occurrence 
of  ancient  fields,  sometimes  called  "garden-beds,"  in  which 
regular  rows,  as  of  maize  carefully  cultivated,  with  a  manifest 
division  into  distinct  lots  by  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the 
rows,  seems  to  favor  this  idea.  The  Indians  were  never  known 
to  cultivate  with  such  carefulness  and  regularity.  Only  a 
cheap  food  could  render  possible  the  extra  labors  and  public 
monuments  of  this  race.  Maize,  or  Indian  corn,  is  a  native  of 
tropical  regions,  where  it  grows  wild.  It  was  probably  intro- 
duced to  North  America  by  this  race  in  their  migration  from 
the  South,  together  with  tobacco,  which  is  a  native  of  the 
Andes.  The  great  number  of  pipes  found  in  the  mounds  in- 
dicates that  tobacco  was  a  favorite  luxury  with  the  Mound 
Builders  and  widely-cultivated.  They  are  believed  also  to  have 
cultivated  beans  and  various  vines. 

There  are  indications  in  places  that  they  sometimes  sur- 
rounded their  cultivated  fields  with  embankments  of  earth, 
and  that  on  some  of  the  streams  they  built  levees  to  2:)revent 


EVIDENCES    OF    KNOWLEDGE    AND    FORESIGHT.  1-1:1 

overflow.  Traces  of  roads  and  causeways  liave  also  been 
noticed  on  the  affluents  of  the  Lower  Mississippi.  Maize 
is  so  product!  ve. in  the  regions  occupied  by  the  Mound  Builders 
that  comparatively  few  persons  could  easily  cultivate  enouyh' 
to  furnish  the  principal  food  to  thousands.  It  was  tlie  ba.sis 
of  their  civilizatidU.  there  is  nu  doubt.  The  ancient  dwellers 
in  the  fertile  valleys  exulted  in  plenty  drawn  from  a  careful 
and  systematic  cultivation  that  furnished  all  the  food  they 
could  require. 

On  this  unfailing  abundance,  drawn  from  the  best  watered 
and  most  fertile  parts  of  the  Valley,  rose  a  variety  of  classes 
and  a  division  of  labor,  without  which  advance  in  civilization 
would  be  impossible.  The  evidence  is  clear  that  the  elements 
of  engineering  and  of  skill  in  laying  out  military  works  was 
considerably  advanced.  Accurate  squares,  angles,  circles,  and 
other  figures  on  a  scale  often  embracin";  manv  acres  are  fre- 
quent,  and  works  distant  from  each  other  inclose  precisely 
the  same  space.  The  corners  of  the  platform  mounds  usually 
correspond  with  the  points  of  the  compass.  A  careful,  meas- 
ured regularity  is  a  marked  feature  of  a  large  part  of  the 
works,  especially  where  they  are  carried  out  on  a  large  scale. 
Thegenius  of  foresight  and  calculation,  of  preparation  against 
a  variety  of  disasters,  indicates  a  class  educated  to  the  military 
life  among  a  people  to  whom  fighting  was  not  agreeable.  The 
extremely  large  scale  of  many  of  the  fortresses  indicates  that 
there  must  have  been  many  soldiers  to  defend  them,  and  per- 
haps that  they  were  places  of  temporary  resort  during  an  in- 
road of  the  enemy.  Occasionally  a  town  site  appears  to  have 
been  protected  with  walls;  but  usually  the  fortresses  occupied 
the  heights  which  offered  the  best  natural  facilities  for  defence. 
If  wooden  stockades  crowned  the  earthworks,  as  is  probable, 
they  must  have  been  very  formidable  to  a  savage  foe.  They 
probably  sheltered  the  people  for  many  generations  against 
occasional  attacks. 

The  arts  of  the  Mound  Builders  did  not  extend  to  working 


142  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Stone  in  masses.  For  this  the  surface  of  the  Valley  did  not 
furnish  very  abundant  material,  but  their  minor  sculptures 
often  indicate  an  observant  eye,  and,  considering  the  luateriais 
and  the  tools,  an  extremely  skillful  hand.  The  Peruvians  had 
learned  the  art  of  hardening  cojiper  with  tin  so  that  stone 
could  be  worked  with  metal  tools.  There  is  no  indication  of 
any  such  useful  tools  among  this  race;  and  yet  the  hardest 
stone  was  wrought  into  a  great  variety  of  forms.  These  works 
of  art,  in  a  great  multitude  of  cases,  are  surprisingly  true  to 
nature.  Most  of  the  animals  of  the  Valley  and  some  never 
found  in  it  were  executed  with  rare  tidelity  and  correctness  of 
expression,  in  characteristic  attitudes,  and,  when  the  material 
permitted,  a  high  polish  was  added.  Some  of  their  works 
rival  the  best  Peruvian  specimens. 

So  striking  are  many  of  these  works  of  sculptured  art  that 
some  have  refused  to  believe  a  people  so  primitive  as  they 
supposed  the  Mound  Builders  were,  could  have  produced 
them.  Seven  different  specimens  of  the  manatee  or  laman- 
tin,  a  curious  marine  animal,  with  two  fore  paws  closely  re- 
sembling a  human  hand,  have  been  found.  It  frequents  the 
shores  and  rivers  of  the  northern  coast  of  South  America. 
Many  other  sculptures  represent  animals  of  the  soutliern  hem- 
isphere, and  their  occurrence  in  the  mounds  of  the  upper 
Valley  is  considered  extremely  significant.  Some  have  be- 
lieved them  imported,  but  equally  skillful  representations  of 
birds  and  most  of  the  animals  of  the  Valley  as  clearly  show 
that  there  were  artists  here  quite  capable  of  producing  them 
after  having  once  closely  observed  the  originals. 

Some  unfinished  sculptures  suggest  how  the  work  was  car- 
ried on,  although  the  kind  of  tool  used  for  cutting  is  a  mys- 
tery. The  outline  was  made  as  a  whole,  and  the  details  for 
each  part  worked  out  together  and  in  harmony — showing  that 
a  full  picture  was  in  the  mind  of  the  artist  from  the  first — and 
the  strokes  of  the  cutting  tool  were  bold  and  confident,  dis- 
playing a  well-skilled  hand.    Occasionally  a  humorous  figure, 


-!iJA, 


w 
o 


THE  CULTURE  PROVEN  BY  THEIR  ART  REMAINS.     143 

or  a  caricature,  reveals  the  sense  of  fun  in  the  maker  and  his 
success  in  reproducing  his  conceit.  Much  of  this  sculpture 
remains  only  as  the  ornamentation  of  pipes,  although  human 
figures  have  frequently  been  found,  sometimes  enshrined  in 
shells,  the  central  parts  of  which  had  been  cut  away.  These 
have  been  supposed  to  be  small  idols,  with  how  much  reason 
is  uncertain. 

Much  expression  is  often  conveyed  by  the  human  faces  and 
in  the  attitude  of  the  form.  "  Nothing  can  surpass  the  truth- 
fulness and  delicacy  of  the  sculpture,"  says  one  very  experi- 
enced and  intelligent  observer;  and  it  is  declared  that  the 
ornamentation  of  urns,  water-jars  and  various  specimens  of 
pottery  is  much  superior  to  anything  found  in  Europe  in  the 
"Bronze  Age."  Only  in  the  "Iron  Age"  next  jireceding  the 
historical  era  in  Europe,  is  the  same  skill  noted. 

All  this  is  fully  in  keeping  with  the  intelligence  and  capac- 
ity manifested  under  other  forms  by  the  Mound  Builders.  All 
was  characteristic  of  a  peculiar,  unborrowed  and  really  im- 
portant, advance  beyond  a  barbarous  condition,  and  indicative 
of  a  higher  degree  of  culture  than  those  are  willing  to  ac- 
knowledge whose  minds  are  filled  with  images  of  the  colossal 
sculptures  of  Egypt  and  Assyria.  They  had  laid  a  solid 
foundation  for  future  progress  by  careful  original  studies, 
long  and  patient  practice  and  a  wide  range  of  observation  and 
experience.  Their  measure  of  advance  was  the  more  signifi- 
cant that  they  had  the  most  serious  possible  difiiculties  to 
overcome  by  reason  of  their  want  of  suitable  implements  with 
which  to  embody  their  conceptions. 

We  may  justly  assume  that  what  has  remained  to  our 
times  of  these  very  ancient  products  of  industry  and  art 
represents  but  a  small  part  of  them  when  they  stood  in  their 
full  completeness.  How  little  has  remained  to  show  the 
industry,  the  art,  and  the  splendor  of  ancient  Babylon  and 
Nineveh,  of  Memphis  and  Tyre  !  A  large  part  of  our 
knowledge  of  them  is  derived  from  eye  witnesses,  or  from 


144:  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

those  whf)  lived  in  or  near  tlie  same  period.  They  had  a 
knowledge  of  iron  and  how  to  work  it  so  as  to  make  it 
serve  their  industries.  The  horse,  the  ox,  the  camel  and  the 
elejihant  aided  their  labors;  and  the  dry  climate  of  countries 
surrounded  by  arid  deserts  tended  to  preserve  monuments 
which  they  built  largely  of  stone. 

Tlio  climate  of  the  Valley,  on  the  contrary,  is  moist;  the 
material  of  which  its  ancient  people  built  their  monuments 
was  chiefly  the  soft  soil,  easily  spread  far  and  wide  during 
the  long  course  of  two  or  thre^  thousand  years  of  storm 
and  wind  and  frost.  They  had  no  beasts  of  burden  ;  they 
knew  nothing  of  iron  ;  they  had  not  even  learned  how-  to 
harden  copper,  as  did  the  Peruvians  later,  and  their  more 
effective  implements  must  be  made  of  stone.  They  had 
numerous  copper  tools,  but  they  were  t(jo  soft  for  heavy 
work.  Their  axes  and  hoes  and  picks  must  be  painfully 
shaped  out  of  the  more  tenacious  rocks  ;  their  knives  and 
graving  implements  they  made,  like  the  Mexicans,  from  flint 
and  obsidian. 

With  stone  axes,  assisted  by  fire,  tliey  removed  the  heavy 
timber  growth  ;  with  stone  hoes  and  other  awkward  imple- 
ments they  stirred  the  soil,  cultivated  maize,  their  staple 
food,  which  they  varied  with  fish  from  "the  streams,  near 
which  all  their  works  are  found,  and  with  game  from  the 
neighboring  forests,  slain  by  their  flint-tipped  arrows  and 
spears.  With  how  much  toil  and  difficulty  all  this  was 
accomplished  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive.  It  took  more 
than  half  a  century  for  the  civilized  pioneers,  provided  with 
the  steel-edged  axe,  the  serviceable  plow,  the  light  hoe,  the 
sickle  and  the  scythe,  assisted  by  the  horse  and  ox,  to  repeat 
their  work. 

They  had  houses  to  build  with  equally  inefficient  tools,  they 
wove  cloth  from  the  fibres  of  plants  for  garments,  they 
boiled  salt  at  the  "  Kentucky  Licks,"  they  obtained  copper  from 
Lake  Superior,  obsidian  from  New  Mexico,  and  heaped  up.with 


RELIGIOUS    PURPOSE    OF    PLATFORM    MOUNDS.  145 

laborious  steadiness,  multitudes  of  mounds  and  miles  upon 
miles  of  embankments.  But  the  rich  soil  responded  readily 
to  the  touch  of  their  cumbrous  implements  of  agriculture 
and  the  labor  of  one  supplied  food  for  many.  There  was 
plenty  for  the  rulers  and  their  servants,  their  numerous  priest- 
hood, the  thousands  of  soldiers  who  garrisoned  the  strongholds, 
and  the  multitudes  who  labored  for  the  State. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  mounds  shows  that  a  large 
part  of  them  were  evidently  connected  with  the  religious 
institutions  of  the  builders.  The  altars  of  sacrifice,  found  so 
numerously  in  the  upper  Yalley,  were  replaced  in  the  south 
by  the  truncated  pyramid,  or  platform  mound.  These  are 
peculiar  to  America  and  appear  to  have  had  their  origin  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  since  they  are  found  in  fuller  develop- 
ment in  Mexico  and  Central  America.  The  pyramid,  or  plat- 
form mound,  of  Cholula,  not  far  from  the  City  of  Mexico,  is 
twice  as  large  as  the  great  pyramid  of  Egypt  and  supported 
a  temple  on  its  summit.  It  was  on  the  top  of  such  a  mound 
in  Mexico  itself  that  the  captive  Spaniards  were  sacrificed 
under  the  eye  of  the  helpless  Cortez. 

Stephens,  who  made  an  extensive  and  careful  survey  of  the 
mysterious  stone  cities  of  Central  America,  remarks  :  "  In 
Egypt  no  pyramid  was  crowned  by  a  temple  ;  there  is  no 
pyramidal  structure  in  this  country  without  it.''  The  frequent 
presence  of  altars  on  these  mounds  in  the  South,  their  habit- 
ual position  where  multitudes  could  be  gathered  at  their  base, 
the  graded  ways  leading  up  to  their  summits,  and  various 
other  circumstances,  point  them  out  as  devoted  to  the  same 
service,  although  no  stone  edifices  were  erected  on  them,  as  in 
the  countries  further  south. 

They  are  one  of  the  strongest  links  that  connect  the  Mound 
Builders  with  the  architects  in  stone  in  those  regions  where 
an  obviously  later  and  more  elaborate  civilization  was  devel- 
oped. As  the  Assyrians  had  learned,  in  the  soft  plains  of 
Chaldea,  to  construct  earth  mounds  as  a  base  for  public  build- 


146  TIIK    MlSSlSSll'l'I    VALLEY. 

ingb  and  transferred  the  custom  to  the  rocky  regions  to  which 
they  removed,  so,  apparently,  the  liabit  of  raising  earth 
mounds  in  the  soft  and  level  spaces  of  the  Valley  was  carried 
among  the  mountain  plateaus  by  the  Toltecs  in  their  flight, 
and  the  skill  they  had  acquired  in  the  small  arts  of  sculpture 
expanded  into  the  adornment  of  the  massive  stone  buildings 
with  which  they  there  crowned  them. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  character,  vv^hich  the  mounds 
prove  was  a  leading  trait  of  their  authors,  was  their  religious 
habit.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  they  were  ruled  by  the 
religious  orders,  or  that  the  sacerdotal  character  was  the  base 
of  kingly  power.  The  Incas  were  the  "Children  of  the  Sun," 
and  Montezuma  was  the  high  priest  of  his  nation.  Tiieir 
religious  institutions  were  probably  more  perfectly  developed 
than  any  others.  It  is  inferred  from  the  distinct  character  of 
the  offerings  on  the  numerous  altars  of  a  sacred  inclosure  on 
the  Scioto  that  they  worshipped  various  powers,  presenting  to 
each  a  separate  class  of  burnt  offerings.  Like  most  primitive 
nations  they  deified  the  forces  of  nature,  and,  chief  among 
these,  the  Sun. 

To  catch  the  first  rays  of  the  god  of  day  they  elevated  the 
mounds  high  above  their  habitations  and  perhaps,  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  contented  themselves  with  a  worship  of 
the  great  luminary  under  the  open  sky.  It  was  the  beneficent 
source  of  life,  fruitfulness  and  heat,  and  eternal  fires  were 
maintained  in  its  honor.  From  this  arose,  in  all  probability, 
the  sacrifices  by  fire  that  smoked  on  every  altar  in  the  Valley 
and  consumed  all  that  they  held  most  precious.  The  Persians, 
the  Phceniciaus  and  Carthaginians,  the  Peruvians  and  Aztecs 
all  worshipped  the  Sun  as  a  principal  divinity.  The  semi- 
civilized  nations  of  the  New  World  extinguished  their  fires  at 
certain  astronomical  periods,  rekindled  them  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  new  cycle,  and  the  sacrifices  then  made  usiially 
included  human  beings.     The  Aztecs  are  said   to  have  re- 


WORSHir    OF    THE    SUN    AND    HUMAN    SACRIFICES.  147 

kindled  the  fire  on  the  breast  of  a  living  man  whose  heart 
was  afterward  torn  out. 

It  is  supposed  that  some  of  the  mounds  on  the  highest 
points  in  the  upper  Valley  were  places  where  the  sacred  fire 
was  periodically  renewed.  They  were,  in  such  places,  of  stone, 
which  give  evidence  of  intense  or  long-continued  heat,  caused, 
probably,  b}'  the  fires  which  were  never  allowed  to  expire  but 
at  the  time  appointed  for  renewal.  The  wonderful  powers  of 
nature,  whose  mysteries  now  engage  the  inexhaustible  interest 
and  intelligent  researches  of  modern  science,  were  extremely 
impressive  to  the  early  nations  and  none,  perhaps,  have  failed 
to  worship  them  under  some  form.  The  daily  miracle  of  the 
sun's  progress  across  the  heavens  and  the  various  effects  pro- 
duced by  it  in  the  different  seasons  were  especialh-  noted  with 
superstitious  wonder  and  veneration,  which  led  to  institutions 
for  its  worship  and  the  setting  apart  of  a  priesthood  con- 
secrated to  its  service,  to  the  maintenance  of  sacred  fires  and 
to  the  presentation  of  offerings  designed  to  honor  or  pro- 
pitiate it. 

Most  of  the  races,  whose  passage  from  barbarism  to  semi- 
civilization  has  been  noted,  have  been  found  to  include  human 
sacrifice  among  these  precious  offerings  to  the  sun  and  other 
heavenly  and  earthly  powers  whose  anger  was  feared  or  whose 
aid  was  sought.  Few  of  the  altar  mounds  fail  to  show  evi- 
dences of  the  burning  of  human  bodies  on  them,  which  gives 
rise  to  the  opinion,  among  those  who  have  studied  them,  that 
this  horrible  custom  was  prevalent  among  the  Mound  Builders. 
The  bodies  of  the  dead  were  burned  as  a  part  of  the  burial 
rites  in  all  sections  of  the  Valley  to  a  large  extent;  yet  that 
was  only  one  of  the  forms  employed,  and  the  ceremony  was 
evidently  different  in  the  burial  hiounds  from  that  practiced 
on  the  altars.  There  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt  that  this  gliastly 
form  of  worship  was  a  part  of  the  altar  service,  and  that  thou- 
sands of  hiiman  lives  have  been  ended  here  by  violence  at  the 
hands  of  the  ministers  of  religion.     Perhaps  their  best  and 


148  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

dearest  were  often  so  presented  by  this  very  religiously  in- 
clined race — ''  the  fruit  of  the  body  for  the  sin  of  the  soul  " — 
as  in  ancient  Palestine.  The  practices  of  the  Me.xicans  on 
structures  similar  to  the  temple  mounds  shed  a  fearful  light 
of  suggestion  on  their  uses. 

Tiiat  they  failed  to  have  a  priesthood  devoted  to  the  care 
and  service  of  the  altars  and  temples  is  most  improbable. 
With  so  large  a  number  of  difi'erent  religious  structures  this 
class  must  have  been  well  organized  into  a  liierarchy,  or 
succession  of  orders  and  grades.  Twenty-four  altars  in  one 
inclosure  on  the  Scioto  were  consecrated  apparently  to  different 
objects  of  adoration.  One  contained  a  crescent  formed  of 
round  pieces  of  mica,  which  suggests  offerings  to  the  moon; 
another  god  was  apparently  appealed  to  by  offerings  of  tobacco 
and  pipes,  more  than  two  hundred  in  a  charred  condition 
being  counted  on  one  altar;  flint  arrow-heads,  in  great  num- 
bers, were  the  chief  relics  of  another,  as  if  a  treaty  closing  a 
war  had  been  solemnized,  or  the  favor  of  the  '•  god  of  battles" 
sought;  other  altars  showed  various  offerings  differing  largely 
on  each. 

This  organization  of  the  religious  sentiment  has  always  been 
accomplished  by,  or  accompanied  with,  an  extensive  develop- 
ment of  a  priesthood,  and  there  seems  no  reason  whatever  to 
doubt  that  it  occurred  here,  also.  All  experience  shows  the 
civil  and  religious  powers  united  in  some  form  in  primitive 
civilizations,  and  in  many  cases  the  king  or  prince  became 
religious  as  well  as  civil  head.  This  was  the  case  in  both 
Peruvian  and  Aztec  organizations,  and  may  be  inferred  in  the 
kindred  race  of  the  Mounds.  A  quiet  and  gentle  race,  such 
as  these  evidently  were,  has  always  been  easily  ruled  through 
its  religious  susceptibilities.  The  great  mounds  and  the 
larger  sacred  inclosures  were  probably  the  residences  of  re- 
ligious dignitaries  of  the  liighest  rank. 

The  many  similarities  of  the  Mound  Builders  and  their 
evident  institutions  tu  the  people  of  tropical  America,  who 


THEIK    CONNECTION    WITH    SOUTH    AMEEICA.  149 

had  advanced  far  toward  true  civilization  in  some  ways  when 
overwhelmed  by  the  Spaniards,  have  been  frequently  noticed. 
The  indications  are  fairly  conclusive  of  extremely  intimate 
relations  between  them.  There  are  reasons  for  supposing  such 
relations  both  before  and  after  the  building  of  the  mounds. 
"Wlierever  early  civilizations  can  be  traced  back  to  their  ap- 
parent origin  they  have  led  the  inquirer  to  a  tropical  region 
— usually  a  health^'  plateau  or  elevated  valley. 

This  does  not  fail  in  the  case  of  the  Mound  Builders.  There 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  original  rise  above  a  barbarous 
condition  commenced  on  the  plateau  at  the  eastern  base  of  the 
Andes  in  the  north  of  South  America,  whence  the  population 
wandered  northeast  through  the  isthmus,  and  south  among 
the  higher  elevations  of  the  mountains.  The  same  general 
formation  of  the  skull,  the  same  general  traits  of  character, 
seem  to  imply  this.  There  is  a  wide  distinction  between  the 
semi-civilized  races  and  savage  tribes  that  seems  to  prove  a 
very  early  separation  of  the  stock,  or  else  a  different  original 
birth-place  for  each.  The  Indian  tribes  seem  to  have  come 
from  the  northwest;  the  Mound  Builders  from  the  south- 
west. 

Maize  and  tobacco  are  natives  of  South  America,  and  were 
probably  introduced  by  the  Mound  Builder  race  to  North 
America.  Along  with  these  they  brought  a  knowledge  of 
tropical  birds  and  animals,  of  obsidian,  pearls,  and  copper, 
and  this  knowledge  was  probably  maintained  by  subsequent 
intercourse  in  some  way.  The  fact  of  some  kind  of  inter- 
course is  unquestionably  established  by  the  works  of  art  to 
which  similarities  of  character  and  physical  structure  give 
great  significance. 

The  traditions  of  the  Toltecansof  Mexico  indicate  that  they 
were  once  settled  in  a  country  to  the  northeast;  that  they 
were  violently  attacked  by  fierce  savage  tribes,  and,  after  a 
war  of  thirteen  years,  completeh'  overcome.  Under  several 
leaders  they  abandoned  their  country  and  made  several  settle- 


150  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ments  at  different  points  in  Mexico,  but  finally  transferred 
the  seat  of  their  government  to  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  A 
variet}'  of  legends  have  been  preserved  by  the  early  Spaniards 
relating  apparently  to  the  later  stages  of  this  migration.  The 
oldest  date  in  the  language  of  this  race  is  said,  by  the  Abbe 
Brasseur  de  Bonrbourg — who  devoted  himself  with  great  zeal 
to  the  collection  of  all  the  information  that  could  be  drawn 
from  original  sources  before  they  were  quite  scattered  and 
lost — to  have  been  955  B.  C.  As  this  dates  their  advent  to 
power  in  Mexico  their  wanderings  must  have  begun  about  a 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era.  This  was  two  cen- 
turies and  a  quarter  before  the  first  Olympiad — the  starting- 
point  of  dates  in  Grecian  history — and  about  two  and  a  half 
centuries  before  the  foundation  of  Rome. 

How  far  this  is  to  be  relied  on  it  is  difiicult  to  say.  The 
Abbe  Brasseur  had  learned  the  Nahuatal,  or  Toltecan  language, 
and  none  of  his  successors  among  Mexican  historians  were 
competent  to  criticise  his  statements.  We  have  already  seen 
that  a  number  of  indications  in  the  mounds  point  to  the  prob- 
ability of  about  that  age  for  their  abandonment.  Torquemada 
found  in  Mexico  an  old  record  describing  these  wanderers  on 
their  appearance  in  that  countr}',  "  as  a  fine-looking,  intelli- 
gent race,  of  industrious  and  orderly  habits,  and  skilled  in 
workiiiir  metals  and  stones."  There  is  much  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  trustworthiness  of  these  records,  but  a  gen- 
eral consent  in  the  statement  that  they  ruled  Mexico  for  many 
centuries,  during  which  they  made  notable  progress  in  art  and 
science,  when  their  government  fell  into  disorder  and  finally 
gave  place  to  that  of  the  fierce  and  bloody  Aztecs  who  adopted 
much  of  their  civilization  but  stood  far  beneath  them  in  hu- 
manity and  real  culture. 

During  this  long  period  from  their  first  appearance  in  Mex- 
ico to  their  final  su1)jection  by  the  Aztecs,  there  was  appar- 
ently, at  all  times,  a  confused  state  of  migrations  back  and 
forth  over  the  region  between  the  Vallev  of  Mexico  and  Cen- 


THE    MIGRATION    OF    THE    TOLTECS.  151 

tral  America,  and  it  is  believed  by  some  that  this  race  built 
the  best  of  the  mound  temples  with  their  singular  sculptures 
in  the  forests  and  mountains  covering  the  northern  part  of 
Central  America,  and  that  the  Toltecs,  the  most  truly  civilized 
of  all  North  American  races,  were  the  true  Mound  Builders. 
According  to  this  view  the  primitive  civilization  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  was  the  original  type — the  base  on  which  the 
Southern  arts  and  culture  of  North  America  was  founded. 
The  evidence  of  a  great  advance  from  savage  life  has  been 
noted,  and  facts,  as  well  as  such  traces  of  history  as  can  be 
gathered,  unite  in  pointing  to  one  conclusion.  It  is  not, 
indeed,  accepted  as  the  only  possible  one;  but  the  most  care- 
ful research  has  discovered  the  largest  number  of  indications 
of  such  a  connection  of  events. 

Such  migrations  have  Ijeen  very  numerous  in  the  history  of 
the  Old  World,  and  the  fresh  impulse  given  by  adventure, 
together  with  the  mixture  of  races  that  has  usually  followed, 
have  been  among  the  strongest  stimulants  to  more  rapid  and 
enlarged  progress.  The  word  Toltec  is  said  to  be  still  synon- 
ymous with  architect  in  Mexican;  the  very  numerous  mounds  . 
point  to  the  building  tendency  of  an  early  people  who  had 
few  tools  or  models;  while  Central  American  architecture 
indicates  models  not  native  to  a  rocky  region  and  a  very  long 
previous  training  in  sculpture,  culminating  there  in  the  ori- 
gin of  hieroglyphic  writing,  and  a  really  original  and  im- 
pressive style  of  architecture.  To  find  such  a  state  of  progress 
in  these  directions  in  a  confined  region  without  a  wider  range 
of  experience  and  a  more  various  discipline  than  could  have 
been  received  there  would  be  indeed  surprising.  The  litera- 
ture of  Western  Asia  and  Europe  was  born  of  many  removals 
and  recastings  of  the  primitive  civilization.  It  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  original  in  Egypt  from  which  it  was  doubly 
transplanted — to  Phoenicia  and  thence  to  Greece — before  the 
perfect  flower  and  fruit  could  be  matured. 

In  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  we  find  traces  of  singu- 


152  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

larly  mature  conceptions  for  so  mucli  backwardness  in  other 
respects.  The  elements  of  mathematical  science  are  visible  in 
the  perfect  circles,  squares,  octagons,  ellipses  and  four-cornered 
mounds  adjusted  to  the  points  of  the  compass;  in  the  art  of 
military  defense,  and  in  the  surprising  accuracy  and  truth  to 
nature  of  the  works  of  the  sculptor  and  ceramic  artist.  They 
were  on  the  high  road  to  true  culture  and  the  religious  tone 
of  the  great  mass  of  their  monuments  stamps  them  as  a 
thoughtful  people.  They  suddenly  disappeared  from  the 
Valley  leaving  little  other  trace  behind  save  tlieir  maize,  their 
tobacco  and  a  very  faint  and  uncertain  tradition,  if  indeed  it 
refers  to  tliem. 

A  degree  of  sacredness  was  attached  by  the  modern  Indian 
to  the  pipe  and  tobacco,  which  were  favorite  offerings  on  the 
mound  altars,  and  still  more  closely  associated  with  religious 
ideas  in  the  minds  of  the  Builders  than  in  those  of  the  Indians. 

The  Ohio  was  named  by  the  modern  Iroquois,  but  possibly 
the  Mound  Builders  left  their  name,  or  the  name  of  one  of 
their  tril)es  or  provinces,  to  the  Alleghany  Mountains ; 
although  it  appears  impossible  to  tell  whether  or  not  that 
name  is  only  the  relic  of  a  hunter  tribe  of  which  so  many  were 
annihilated  by  the  fierce  confederacy  of  New  York.  The 
elaborate  defenses  along  the  northern  tributaries  of  the  Ohio 
intimate  that  a  struggle,  lasting  for  generations,  preceded  the 
final  catastrophe.  This  was  produced  by,  perhaps,  the  strong 
Indian  confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations  and  prolonged  by  the 
Mound  Builders'  fortifications.  But  suddenly  the  mines  of 
Lake  Superior  were  abandoned  while  the}'  were  yet  engaged 
in  raising  a  huge  mass  of  ore  and  never,  apparently,  revisited. 
Unfinished  altars  remained  forever  uncovered ;  the  fortress, 
the  sacred  inclosure  and  the  temple  mound  became  suddenly 
•  solitary,  and  the  forest  proceeded  to  reassert  its  control  over 
them. 

They  must  have  been  hotly  pursued  into  the  lower  Valley 
for  they  did  not  rear  there  fortifications  such  as  they  had  been 


ite. 


^.=>^^^!-- / 1' 


WHY   THEY    SUDDENLY    DISAPPEAitED.  153 

driven  from  above,  and  indeed  all  their  locations  were  ex- 
tremely accessible  to  the  swift  bark,  or  log,  canoe  of  the  Indian. 
A  miserable  remnant  of  prisoners  probably  dragged  out  a 
weary  and  desolate  life  in  slavery,  while  the  more  intelligent 
and  enterprising  spared  from  slaughter  abandoned  the  beau- 
tiful Yalley,  nor  felt  themselves  safe  till  they  were  hundreds 
of  miles  beyond  the  Rio  Grande,  and  at  length  found  them- 
selves near  the  lake  of  Mexico.  Like  the  central  mountain 
plateau  of  Asia  and  the  woods  of  Germany,  the  highlands  of 
the  E.ocky  Mountains  seem  to  have  sent  fortli  swarm  after 
swarm  of  fierce,  warlike,  and  (in  this  case)  wholly  barbarous 
tribes,  which  flowed,  wave  after  wave,  eastward  into  the  Val- 
ley and  south  toward  Mexico.  During  some  of  these  destruc- 
tive attacks  of  the  Chichimecs,  as  all  the  barbarians  were 
called  by  the  Toltecs,  a  colony  fled  to  Central  America  for 
refuge  and  carried  their  architectural  tendencies  to  a  still 
higher  and  more  perfect  stage  of  development. 

Such  seem  to  be  the  reasonable  conclusions  from  the  facts 
revealed  in  earth  and  stone,  and  by  the  records  of  Mexican 
and  Central  American  history  preserved  by  Jesuit  missionaries 
in  New  Spain.  Apparently  only  a  wandering  tribe  from  the 
foot  of  the  Andes  could  introduce  maize  and  tobacco  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  fauna  of  those  tropical  regions.  The  Valley 
was  too  thinly  populated  by  the  men  who  had  been  contem-' 
fiorary  with  the  mammoth  and  mastodon  to  have  any  opposi- 
tion raised  to  their  settlement  along  the  rivers  of  the  middle 
and  eastern  Valley,  and  for  imknown  centuries  the}'  dwelt  in 
security  until  the  numbers  and  valor  of  the  hunter  tribes 
around  Lake  Ontario  accumulated  danger  and,  finally,  ruin. 

Tliey  were  not  to  be  left  to  build  up  a  political  and  social 
structure  here  that  might  waste  too  many  of  the  treasures  of 
the  Valley  on  the  childhood  of  humanity  and  an  imperfect 
civilization.  These  treasures  must  be  held  fairly  intact  and 
the  ground  kept  clear  for  the  utmost  development  of  the 
civilization  matured  with  so  much  pains  and  care  around  the 


15-J:  THE    MISSISSIPI'I    VALLKV. 

Mediterranean  and  on  the  sliores  of  Western  Europe.  Tlie 
quiet  and  l)usy  agricultural  dwellers  in  the  Valley,  after  ages 
of  undisturbed  growth  or,  in  later  times,  of  successful  defense 
'  by  their  superior  intelligence,  were  suddenly  found  unable  to 
resist  the  fierce,  determined  onslaught  of  the  bravest  of  the 
Indian  tribes.  In  all  probability  a  few  thousand  warrioi's 
of  the  forest,  knowing  no  mercy  and  delighting  in  the 
slaughter  of  the  flying  foe  who  had  long  resisted  them  by 
virtue  of  his  fortifications,  drove  before  them  the  millions  of 
the  Mound  Builders  as  Alexander  scattered  the  vast  armies 
of  Persian  Darius. 

What  agonies  of  terror,  what  scenes  of  dreadful  carnage, 
may  then  have  been  witnessed  by  mounds  and  prairies  and 
streams,  we  can  scarcely  hope  to  know.  Undoubtedly  in 
great  mental  distress  and  bodily  suffering  the  escaped  remnant 
abandoned  their  fields,  their  temples,  and  the  streams  whose 
banks  they  and  their  ancestors  had  beautified  by  incessant 
toil.  It  must  have  been  one  of  the  most  fearful  catastrophes 
of  warring  humanity. 

The  retreat  of  the  ten  thousand  Greeks,  recorded  by  Xeno- 
phon,  and  the  distresses  of  De  Soto's  little  army  after  his 
death,  must  have  been  trifles  compared  to  this  exodus  of  the 
disheartened,  terrified,  and  perishing  remnant  of  a  great  na- 
tion. Their  houses  left  behind  decayed;  their  temples  rotted 
and  disappeared  from  the  mounds;  the  forests  reappeared  over 
thejr  pleasant  valleys  and  hills  and  sacrificial  altars.  No  one 
entered  into  their  labors  or  reaped  the  reward  of  their  pains- 
taking industry.  Their  very  names  vanished  from  the  Valley, 
unless  it  is  recorded  by  the  mountains  forming  its  eastern 
boundary.  The  Yalley  rested  in  its  weighty  service  to  man 
until  the  people  worthy  of  it  should  appear  to  build  a  mightier 
social  and  political  fabric  and  make  full  use  of  all  its  varied 
and  abundant  sources  of  wealth.  The  Indian  tribes  left  them 
essentially  untouched. 


}^: 


ARROW  HEADS,  EUROPEAN  AND  AMERICAN. 


PART  SECOND. 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  AND  EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE 
MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    WILD    HUNTERS    OF    THE    VALLET. 

A  very  different  race  iVoin  the  Mound  Builders  lield  posses- 
sion of  the  Valley  when  adventurers  from  Europe  became 
acquainted  with  it.  Almost  without  arts  wliich  deserved  the 
name,  depending  chiefly  on  hunting,  fishing,  and  tlie  spontane- 
ous fruits  of  the  soil,  for  food,  tiiey  spent  much  of  tlicir  time 
in  roaming  from  place  to  place,  bestowing  very  little  care  or 
labor  on  dwellings  temporarily  occupied.  The  art  of  war, 
which,  after  hunting,  they  considered  almost  the  only  serious 
occupation  worthy  of  a  man,  was,  with  them,  equally  simple. 
It  consisted  in  sudden  attacks  on  the  enemy,  in  which  success 
was  largely  due  to  surprise,  and  in  tlie  use  of  all  the  stratagems 
and  feints  which  their  ingenuity  could  devise,  but  never,  when 
it  could  be  avoided,  in  a  fair  and  open  contest. 

It  was  conducted  by  small  bands,  rarely  numbering  more 
than  a  few  hun<lred,  who,  having  struck  a  decisive  blow,  or 
failed  in  the  attempt,  withdrew  as  secretly  and  rapidly  as  they 
had  come.  They,  therefore,  seldom  fortified  themselves,  or 
they  did  so  only  when  expecting  the  attack  of  an  nnnsuallj 
formidable  and  persistent  foe.  They  thcTi  contented  them- 
selves with  a  hastily-constntcted  stockade,  or  rudely  strength- 
ened a  natnrally  strong  position  to  defend  themselves  against 
a  surprise  or  the  first  onset  of  the  enemy.  Some  more  \var- 
like  tribes,  especially  the  Iroquois  at  the  northeast,  and  some 

155 


156  THE    MISSISSIPl'I    VALLEY. 

of  the  Mobil  ians,  in  the  soutli,  bestowed  considerable  pains 
on  the  defenses  of  the  towns  where  they  left  their  women  and 
children ;  but,  at  tlie  best,  they  were  rudely  constructed.  The 
Indian  warrior  detested  continuous  labor  as  a  restraint,  and 
felt  himself  degraded  by  it.  Unless  immediately  associated 
with  his  sports  or  his  warlike  occupations,  he  considered  it 
only  fitting  for  women  and  slaves.  Consequently,  he  acquired 
little  skill  in  construction  when  a  somewhat  more  permanent 
residence,  or  the  necessities  of  defense,  induced  him  to  under- 
take it. 

The  size  and  special  structure  of  the  brain  has  been  found 
to  determine  the  intellectual  rank  of  the  different  races  of 
men.  The  brain  of  the  ancient  Peruvian,  of  the  temple 
builder  of  Mexico,  and  of  the  Mound  Builders  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  contains  an  avei'age  space  of  seventy-five  cubic 
inches;  that  of  the  Indian  eighty-three,  and  of  the  civilized 
Gei-manic  races  of  Europe  ninety.  The  mental  force  of  the 
Indian  is,  therefore,  midway  between  that  of  the  Mound 
Builders  and  other  semi-civilized  nations  of  America,  and 
that  of  the  most  progressive  and  intelligent  modern  race. 
But  the  brain  of  the  Mound  Builder  was  more  symmetrical 
and  indicated,  by  its  proportions,  less  of  the  vigorous  ani- 
mal passions  and  propensities  specially  characteristic  of  the 
Indian.  Accordingly  the  Mound  Builder,  the  ancient  Peru- 
vian, Central  American  and  Mexican  exhibits  less  force  of 
will,  more  docility,  and,  in  genei'al,  more  of  the  qualities 
necessary  to  patient  and  continuous  labor.  Thus,  the  low 
forms  of  civilization  developed  in  Egypt,  in  ancient  Asia  and 
in  America,  sprung  up  among  races  inferior  to  the  modern 
Indian,  but,  having  a  better  balance  of  faculties — less  energy 
of  the  passions  in  comparison  with  the  degree  of  intelligence 
— better  adapted  to  steady  progress.  They  submitted  readil}' 
to  authority,  could  be  combined  in  large  masses,  and  all  their 
physical  forces  concentrated  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  their 
rulers.     Long  and  steady  practice  gives  skill  and  develops 


THE    MENTAL    QUALITIES    OF    THE    INDIAN.  157 

intelligence  whenever  the  nature  of  the  work  involves  thought. 
Hence,  their  progress  in  art,  nianufactures  and  industry. 

The  Indian,  with  a  stronger  intellectual  organ,  but  with 
livelier  passions  and  more  strengtli  of  will,  obstinately'  resisted 
the  control  and  restraint  necessary  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
civilization  and  maintain  a  steady  growth  of  improvement. 
Subjection  to  the  will  of  another  and  methodical  labor  were 
intolerable  to  him.  With  tlie  same  strength  of  the  animal 
propensities  and  a  higher  development  of  the  mental  faculties, 
the  Indians  would,  like  the  Goths,  the  Gauls,  and  other  German 
tribes  who  overthrew  the  Roman  empire,  and  like  the  Aztecs, 
who  subdued  the  Toltecans  in  Mexico,  have  admired  the  arts 
and  comforts  of  the  race  they  conqiiered,  and  the  Mound 
Builders  civilization  wonld  have  been  the  first  stage  of  a  more 
perfect  organization  of  society,  of  government,  of  arts  and  of 
religion  in  the  great  Valley.  But  they  were  like  children 
before  intelligence  and  reflection  have  matured.  The  wild, 
free  life  of  the  woods  and  fields,  liberty  to  rove  from  place  to 
place  at  will,  were  irresistibly  attractive  to  them.  A  struc- 
ture of  society  and  government  that  left  the  individual  free 
from  any  constraint  not  imposed  with  his  own  consent  was 
necessary  to  such  a  people.  Their  chiefs  were  clothed  with 
no  coercive  authoritj-.  Their  power  rested  on  public  opinion, 
their  personal  popularity  and  tact  in  peace,  and  their  bravery 
and  success  in  war.  An  Indian  chief  without  eminence  in 
personal  and  popular  qualities  would  have  no  following  and 
no  power. 

Even  in  war  no  coercion  was  employed  and  none  was  pos- 
sible. O  nly  those  who  chose  joined  a  chief  in  a  proposed  expe- 
dition, and,  even  after  having  engaged  in  it,  obedience  to  him 
was  still  substantially  voluntary.  An  Indian  army  was  strong 
only  in  its  enthusiastic  love  of  war,  in  its  confidence  in  the 
leader  and  its  assurance  of  victory.  A  repulse  or  other  dis- 
heartening event  showed  it  to  be  a  rope  of  sand.  Without 
shame  or  loss  of  reputation  the  Indian  braves  abandoned  the 


168  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

leader  in  the  expedition  when   it  was  no  longer  attractive  to 
them  or  they  no  longer  hoped  for  siiccesf^. 

A  government  that  may  not  command  or  pnnish,  that  has 
no  power  to  carry  out  its  designs  when  popular  enthusiasm 
declines,  and  which  rests  on  the  spontaneous  support  of  a 
people  in  tlieir  mental  childhood,  could  never  originate,  or 
preserve  an  inherited,  civilization.  Tliere  can  be  little  doubt 
that  it  was  the  ancestors  of  the  modern  Indians — certainly 
a  people  like  them — who  destroyed  the  Mound  Builder's 
empire  and  were  unable  to  appreciate  or  perpetuate  its  arts 
and  acquisitions,  or  to  imitate  them  in  rising  above  the  wild 
and  savage  state.  They  remained  the  same  from  generation 
to  generation.  Their  habits  prevented  any  accumulation  of 
material  or  mental  treasure,  and  presented  no  solid  ground 
on  which  the  spirit  of  progress  could  rest  its  fulcrum  and 
raise  the  descendants  above  the  ancestors.  The  wisdom  of  the 
old  men  might,  in  part,  descend  to  the  next  genei-ation,  but  the 
obstinate  attachment  to  their  desultory  habits  did  not  permit 
the  son  to  become,  practically'  or  usefully  at  least,  superior  to 
the  father.  Such  as  they  were  when  they  obliged  the  old 
Toltecs  to  abandon  to  them  the  fair  Valley  they  continued  to 
be  when  De  Soto  marched  through  the  Gulf  States  to  tlie 
Mississippi  in  1539  and  1540,  and  when  La  Salle  explored  the 
Valley  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  in  1682. 

A  certain  rigidity  of  character  and  customs  was  a  natural 
result  of  this  perpetual  mental  childhood  which  gave  entrance 
to  no  new  ideas  and  repeated  their  wanderings  and  wars  from 
age  to  age.  This  characteristic  added  greatly  to  the  difficulty 
of  a  material  change  for  the  better,  and,  when  they  were  brought 
in  contact  with  the  enlightened  European  nations,  presented 
an  obstacle  to  their  civilization  that  has  seldom  been  effectu- 
ally overcome.  They  seem  incapable  of  abandoning  their 
ancient  habits  in  the  presence  of  a  new  situation,  and  they 
retreat  before  civilization  instead  of  embracing  it.  This  in- 
flexibility is  perhaps  constitutional  in  the  race  ;  but  probably 


THE    INDIAN    SUBSTITUTES    FOK    LAW.  159 

the  constitutional  bias  flows  from  the  mental  strnctiire  noticed 
above — a  want  of  symmetry  and  balance  between  the  mental 
and  physical  attributes  t>f  the  man.  That  it  is  not  impossible 
to  be  at  least  partially  overcome  has  been  demonstrated  among 
the  tribes  removed  to  the  Indian  Territorv  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi who  have  adopted  the  habits  and  enjoy  the  comforts  of 
a  tolerably  high  civilization.  The  same  result  is  seen  among 
individual  Indians  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  tu  a 
considerable  extent  in  Canada,  especially  among  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Iruquois. 

The  almost  invincible  attachment  to  their  ancient  customs 
corrected,  in  a  singular  degree,  the  dangers  to  civil  and  social 
order  to  which  so  great  an  aversion  to  restraint  would  expose 
any  other  community.  The  ciistoms  of  their  forefajthers  held 
the  place  of  law  to  them,  and  no  people,  perhaps,  were  ever 
so  little  governed  and  so  free  from  internal  disorder.  Respect 
for  eminent  ability,  whether  in  speech  or  in  act,  among  the 
multitude,  was  responded  to  by  the  chiefs  in  an  equal  respect 
for  the  personal  liberty  of  all.  Silver-tongued  persuasion, 
glowing  Oratory,  and  emulous  deeds  were  the  immediate 
instruments  of  government.  These  were  extremely  effective, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  history  of  King  Philip,  of  New  Eng- 
land, Pontiac,  of  Michigan,  and  Tecumseh,  the  Shawnee  chief, 
who  labored  to  construct  confederacies  among  the  scattered 
Indian  tribes  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  the  European 
Invaders  of  their  hunting  grounds.  They  would,  apparently, 
have  succeeded  but  for  the  want  of  skill,  war  material,  and 
discipline  among  their  allies.  These  were  capital  defects, 
inherent  in  the  Indian  constitution  and  mode  of  life  ;  but,  in 
spite  of  them,  the  influence  of  these  chiefs  exposed  the  set- 
tlers to  great  danger  of  annihilation.  Only  superior  arms, 
concert  and  skill  saved  the  infant  settlements  from  swift 
ruin. 

In  spite  of  the  loose  character  of  their  government  and 
the  difiiculty  of  maintaining  concert  of  action  and  sustained 


160  THE    MISSISSIl'l'l    VALLEY. 

concentration  of  energy,  confederacies  of  many  tribes  were 
sometimes  effected  wliicli  produced  important  resnlts.  Tlie 
best  known,  and  perhaps  the  most  effective  of  all,  was  that 
of  the  Iroquois,  or  the  Five  Nations,  of  Central  and  Western 
New  York,  who,  for  unknown  generations,  had  ravaged  and 
more  or  less  completely  conquered  nearly  a  third  part  of  the 
Great  Valley. 

Tlieir  union  was  constnicted  with  much  art,  recognizing 
and  turning  to  good  accoimt  the  special  features  of  the 
Indian  character,  raising  the  Indian  passion  for  war  to 
sustained  enthusiasm  and  evoking  indomitable  fierceness. 
Tliey  were  as  wise  and  politic  in  counsel  as  they  were  bril- 
liant and  vigorous  in  action,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  history 
of  their  long  contest  with  the  French,  and  their  success  in 
balancing  the  French  and  English  against  each  other  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  while  maintaining  their  own 
independence  and  drawing  much  profit  from  their  relations 
to  each  of  the  rivals.  They  were  a  significant  example  of  what 
the  Indian  is  sometimes  capable,  notwithstanding  the  unfavor- 
able features  of  his  character.  Their  victorious  war  parties 
roamed  the  forests  from  the  borders  of  Hudson's  Bay  to  the 
Carolinas,  and  held  in  terror  all  the  other  tribes  from  the 
Atlantic  coast  to  the  Mississippi.  Had  this  confederacy  been 
capable  of  a  true  union,  of  high  military  discipline,  and  a 
progressive  skill  in  organization  sufficient  to  have  pre- 
served, consolidated  and  firmly  ruled  their  conquests,  they 
might  have  repeated  in  America  the  history  of  the  Romans 
in  Europe,  and  have  built  up  a  vast  and  vigorous  empire  that 
would,  perhaps,  have  deferred  European  occupation  of  North 
America  for  centuries. 

But  the  Five  Nations  shared  the  defects  of  the  other  Indian 
tribes,  and  we  must  admire  the  wisdom  and  skill  that  devel- 
©ped  so  much  strength  out  of  materials  which  no  art  could 
really  consolidate.  Each  tribe  or  nation  of  this  confederacy 
was  essentially  independent  and  often  made  war  and  concluded 


THE  INDIAN  CONFEDERACY  OF  NEW  YOKE.       161 

peace  without  reference  to  the  rest.  Their  grand  enterprises 
were  planned  in  a  common  council  whose  authority  rested 
on  the  general  consent  and  whose  determinations  any  tribe 
or  individual  might  freely  decline  to  support.  The  Iroquois 
was  still  an  Indian  and  maintained  his  freedom  of  separate 
action  with  invincible  obstinacy.  Fnion  of  effort  depended 
on  a  singular  community  of  habit,  inclination  and  passion, 
and  perhaps,  also,  in  this  case,  in  a  hereditary  talent  for 
diplomacy. 

Powerful  and  permanent  confederacies  were  rare  in  Indian 
history,  because  these  common  sentiments  were  so  readily 
turned  asrainst  eacli  other  among  the  distinct  tribes.  The 
violence  or  caprice  of  an  individual,  or  a  small  band,  might 
involve  the  whole  tribe  in  a  bloody  feud  with  any  of  its 
neighbors  ;  and  to  maintain  harmony  between  any  consider- 
able number  of  tribes  for  any  great  length  of  time  was  a 
matter  of  extreme  difhculty.  That  it  was  sometimes  done 
demonstrates  the  great  ascendancy  which  eminent  diplomatic 
abilities  might  obtain  over  public  opinion  and  how  powerful 
an  instrument  of  government  a  traditional  policy  could  be- 
come among  these  sticklers  for  personal  freedom. 

There  is  a  tradition  among  the  Iroquois  that,  in  ancient 
times,  a  strong  confederacy,  under  eminent  leaders,  com- 
menced a  warfare  with  a  numerous  and  powerful  people  in 
the  West,  whose  mighty  chief  dwelt  in  a  house  of  gold  ;  that 
they  were  often  repulsed,  and  that  the  contest  continued  a 
hundred  years,  when  the  confederacy  triumphed  and  the  con- 
quered people  fled  dovjii  the  Valley.  Indian  historical  tra- 
ditions are  not  usually  thought  reliable  ;  but  so  great  an 
event  as  the  conquest  of  the  Mound  Builders,  whose  military 
fortifications  indicate  a  resistance  so  stout  and  long  contin- 
ued, may  well  have  made  a  deep  impression  and  have  been 
long  dimly  remembered.  The  Algonquin  tribes,  which  were 
numerous  and  widespread  both  in  the  northern  Valley  and 
along  the  Atlantic  coast,  have  also  preserved  a  tradition. 
11 


162  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

among  the  Leniii-Lenapes — wlio  are  believed  to  have  been 
the  original  stock  of  that  race — of  a  somewhat  similar  general 
purport. 

They  represent  their  ancestors  as  coming  from  the  West 
and  finding  a  great  people  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
of  whom  they  requested  permission  to  pass  through  their 
territoiy.  This  being  refused,  they  commenced  a  contest, 
lasting  for  thirteen  years,  which  ended  in  the  expulsion  of 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  Valley.  It  is  possible  that 
both  these  traditions  had  a  foundation  of  truth,  and  relate 
to  the  same  event ;  that  a  confederacy  was  formed  by  the 
wild  tribes  of  the  northeast  to  expel  the  peaceful  Mound 
Builders  from  the  Valley  which  they  coveted  for  a  hunting 
ground  ;  that  while  the  combined  tribes  of  this  section 
■were  engaged  in  the  contest  the  Algonquins,  and  perhaps 
other  races,  approached  from  the  west  and  united  with  them 
and  thus  brought  on  the  great  catastrophe  which  expelled  a 
large  population  and  an  opening  civilization  from  their  long- 
established  seat.  It  must  have  been  a  powerful  combination 
of  savage  foes  that  so  completely  rooted  out  an  organized  and 
numerous  people  from  their  ancient  homes.  It  has  been  con- 
jectured by  an  eminent  scholar,  who  made  the  Indian  char- 
acter, language  and  traditions  a  life-long  study  under  pecu- 
liarly favorable  conditions,  that  the  Alleghans,  who  left  their 
name  to  an  eastern  branch  of  the  Ohio  and  to  the  mountains 
along  the  eastern  border  of  the  Valley,  were  the  Mound 
Builders  ;  but  he  assigns  to  them  a  more  recent  date  than 
later  researches  have  appeared  to  justify  for  the  Mound 
Builders.  The  era  of  this  expulsion  must  have  been  the 
heroic  age  of  the  Indian. 

Apparently,  the  tribes  of  the  northeast,  decimated  in  num- 
bers by  a  contest  so  long  and  wasting,  retired  to  recruit  their 
exhausted  bands  in  their  previously  established  homes,  and 
the  Algonquins,  much  more  numerous,  and,  if  the  tradition 
may  be  trusted,  less  diminished  in  numbers  from  a  shorter 


^'W 


THE    ORIGINAL    HOMK    OF    THE    TRIBES.  163 

connection  with  the  conflict,  occupied  the  Upper  Valley  and 
spread  .themselves  far  to  the  north  and  east  above  the  great 
Lakes  and  along  the  Atlantic,  inclosing  the  diminished 
Huron-Iroquois  tribes — reduced  by  so  long  and  so  great  a  war 
to  a  remnant — on  all  sides. 

If  these  traditions  contain  a  germ  of  truth,  the  burden  of 
the  contest  occurred  in  the  northern  basin  of  the  Valley,  the 
conquered  remnant  escaping  south,  but,  unwilling  to  trust 
themselves  so  near  a  warlike  and  pitiless  foe,  there  organized 
an  emigration  in  a  body  to  their  ancient  homes  in  the  south- 
west. Apparently,  the  Mobilian  tribes,  who  were  afterwards 
found  in  the  Gulf  States  and  along  the  Lower  Mississippi, 
wandered  from  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  bordering  North- 
ern Mexico  after  the  departure  of  the  Mound  Builders.  This 
is  indicated  by  some  of  their  traditions,  which  describe  a 
long  series  of  travels  from  west  to  east,  in  which  they  were 
harassed  by  branches  of  the  fierce  Dacotahs  or  Sioux  for 
many  years.  The  high  plateau  north  of  Mexico,  and  the 
upper  Rocky  Mountain  regions,  seem  to  have  been  as  prolific 
in  hardy  and  savage  tribes  as  Northern  Europe  during  the 
later  Roman  period.  Mexican  traditions  almost  uniformly 
point  to  the  north  as  the  original  home  of  her  wild  tribes, 
and  those  of  the  eastern  and  central  part  of  the  United  States 
indicate  as  clearly  a  flow  of  immigration  from  the  west. 

The  Natchez  were  the  only  people  of  the  lower  Valley  who 
showed  any  signs  of  connection  with  the  more  civilized  regions 
of  the  southwest.  It  is  said  that  in  their  form  of  govern- 
ment, their  religious  system  and  their  language,  they  diifered 
radically  from  all  the  surrounding  tribes,  and  that,  in  many 
respects,  they  bore  the  appearance  of  being  a  degenerate 
offshoot  of  the  ancient  Mexicans.  Their  traditions  are  also 
stated,  by  some  authorities,  to  have  distinctly  affirmed  their 
emigration  from  Mexico.  They  were  so  early  extinguished, 
as  a  tribe,  that  they  have  not  been  as  fully  studied  as  the 
other  races. 


164  THE    MISSISSIl'I'I    VALLEV. 

The  structure  and  affinities  of  laiisruao'e  are  usually  the 
most  certain  uaouuments  of  the  pre-historic  experiences  of  a 
people,  and  coninionly  furnisli  numerous  suggestions  and 
details  of  ^reat  value.  By  this  means  the  ancient  deriyation, 
the  ^vanderings,  the  i-elationships,  and  the  gradual  progress  of 
a  race  in  civilization,  far  back  in  tlie  pre-liistoric  ages,  may 
sometimes  be  made  out.  The  languages  of  American  Indians, 
however,  have  quite  baffled  the  reseai-ches  of  the  student  of 
the  past,  and  wholly  refused,  as  yet,  to  give  up  the  secret  of 
their  origin.  They  contain  few  or  no  traces  of  an  ancient 
civilization,  or  of  a  gradual  formation  by  the  mingling  of  two 
or  more  languages  of  distinct  origin,  as  do  so  many  of  those 
of  the  Old  World.  Apparently,  they  had  jjassed  through  the 
hands  of  no  more  civilized  generations  and  ages  than  those  of 
the  people  who  employed  them  in  modern  times.  Simplicity 
and  want  of  culture  evidently  characterized  the  people  who 
originated  them,  from  the  earliest  times.  No  remodeling  has 
produced  irregularities  of  form,  or  omissions  and  condensa- 
tions to  render  thee.xpression  more  brief  and  less  cumbersome. 
Their  testimony  seems  to  prove  that  they  sprang  directly  from 
the  powers  and  needs  of  primitive  men  who  ever  after  main- 
tained them  in  their  original  completeness  and  simplicity, 
adding  no  discordant  elements  and  jn'uning  oif  no  unneces- 
sary and  cumbersome  exhuberance.  Indian  language,  there- 
fore, in  the  judgment  of  the  best  recent  authorities,  unites 
with  Indian  manners,  customs  and  monuments,  in  suggesting 
that  if  they  were  not  originated  on  this  continent  they  sepa- 
rated from  the  parent  stock  while  in  its  infantile  and  unde- 
veloped state,  and  that  the  Wild  Hunter  races  are  not  a 
degenerate  oifshoot  of  a  more  civilized  people. 

The  Indian  tribes  of  the  Valley,  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
were  classed,  by  their  affinities  of  language,  as  Mobilians — 
including  the  Creeks  or  Muscogees,  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws 
— the  Uchees  and  Natchez;  the  Cherokees;  and  the  Algon- 
quins,  who  occupied  most  of  the  upper  Valley.     Branches  of 


THE    LOCATION    OF    TRIBES    IN    THE    VALLEY.  165 

Iroquois  tribes  occupied  tlie  lieadwaters  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
soutliern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  nearly  to  the  western  boundary 
of  the  State  of  Ohio.  The  Missouri  and  its  tributaries,  from 
far  up  in  British  America  to  Texas,  was  occupied  by  the 
Dacotahs,  whose  lands  extended  east  to,  and  sometimes 
beyond,  the  upper  Mississippi.  One  tribe  of  this  stock  was 
settled  on  Lake  Michigan.  Texas  is  said  to  have  been  occupied 
along  the  coast  by  offslioots  of  the  Shoshone  race,  whose  prin- 
cipal tribes  dwelt  in  and  about  the  great  Utah  Basin.  North 
and  northwest  Texas  belonged  to  the  Coiuanehes.  The  great 
Valley  and  its  borders  could  not  tail  to  be  a  pleasant  residence 
for  these  Children  of  Nature.  Its  forests,  prairies  and  streams 
supplied  all  their  wants,  and  its  mild  skies  saved  them  from 
the  suffering  experienced  by  dwellers  in  a  more  rigorous 
climate. 

These  various  distinct  nationalities  or  classes  of  tribes  of 
the  Valley,  so  distributed,  must  have  made  their  appearance 
there  very  long  before  they  were  visited  by  Europeans.  The 
divergence  of  language  among  the  widespread  branches  of 
one  stock  required  the  lapse  of  many  centuries  of  local  sepa- 
ration. Few  legends  were  current  in  regard  to  their  original 
settlement  in  the  Valley,  and  we  can  not  place  imreserved 
confidence  in  those  few.  There  were  few  popular  and  general 
traditions  of  their  original  migration  from  other  regions. 
They  had  buried  unnumbered  generations  of  their  fathers 
here,  and  the  memory  of  their  origin  had  retreated,  at  least 
for  the  multitudes,  into  the  thick  darkness  of  the  distant  past. 
Changes  in  habits  and  manners  had  been  few  and  unimport- 
ant. The  tribes  of  the  Valley  generally  cultivated  corn  and 
some  other  vegetables,  without,  in  any  instance,  renouncing 
their  habits  as  hunters,  or  making  any  important  advance 
toward  civilization.  The  tendency  to  an  almost  exclusively 
physiml  life,  which  is  indicated  by  the  distribution  of  the 
brain  in  the  whole  race,  appeared  in  the  history  of  all  the 
tribes — under  the  warmer  sun,  the  briefer  and  milder  winter 


166  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  2>rolific  soil  of  the  South,  as  well  as  in  the  more  rigorous 
climate  and  scantier  vegetation  of  the  North.  The  Southern 
tribes,  indeed,  did  not  need  to  wander  so  far,  and  had,  or 
might  have  had,  more  permanent  homes,  with  their  greater 
abundance  of  resources  in  a  smaller  space,  but,  at  least  when 
the  epoch  of  English  settlement  arrived,  they  were  not  very 
appreciably  dift'erent  from  the  rest.  They  were  incapable,  it 
appears,  of  improving  their  fairer  opportunity  of  making  a 
real  progress.  Such  as  they  must  have  been  when  their  fore- 
fathers coni|uered  the  Mound  Builders,  the}-  were,  substan- 
tially, when  the  Star  of  Civilization  rose  out  of  the  Atlantic 
to  introduce  the  dawn  of  a  new  era. 


CHAPTER    II. 


DISCOVERY    AND    EXPLORATION    BY   THE    SPAKIARDS. 

Columbus  lifted  the  veil  that  concealed  the  New  World 
from  the  Old  in  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  ;  but  it 
was  nearly  three  centuries  later  that  the  people  for  whom  the 
Valley  had  been  reserved  appeared  to  take  permanent  posses-  * 
sion.  The  Spanish  discoverers  were  fresh  from  the  conquest 
of  the  Moors,  and  overflowing  with  the  spirit  of  romantic 
enterprise  and  religious  zeal  which  that  crusade  had  awakened. 
The  great  discoverer  had  been  in  his  grave  but  a  few  years,  his 
followers  were  scarcely  yet  firmly  settled  in  possession  of  the 
beautiful  and  productive  tropical  islands  lying  between  North 
and  South  America,  and  they  were  still  ignorant  of  the  gold 
and  silver  of  Mexico  and  Peru  that  were  soon  to  draw  them 
like  vultures  to  their  prey,  when  the  vicinity  of  Florida  at- 
tracted them  to  examination,  without,  however,  oft'ering  any 
of  the  substantial  rewards  to  these  high-born  freebooters 
which  they  especially  sought. 

Yet  they  gathered  some  marvelous  tales  from  the  simple 
natives  and  a  hint  of  the  great  interior  Valley  which  would 
probably  have  led  to  speedy  exploration,  and  possibly  to  set- 
tlement, had  not  the  booty  to  be  gained  in  more  southern 
regions  soon  drawn  their  attention  away.  Still,  several  abor- 
tive expeditions  in  various  parts  of  Florida  were  undertaken, 
and  the  wealth  of  the  unfortunate  Mexicans  and  Peruvians 
only  deferred  more  vigorous  explorations.  The  sixteenth 
century  was  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  tlie  Valley  as  the 
period  of  Spanish  exploration,  as  the  seventeenth  was  for 
French  discovery  and  settlement,  and  the  eighteenth  for  the 

167 


168  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

,  appearance  of  the  Anglo-American  who  was  destined  to 
inherit  all  its  beauty  and  wealth. 

During  these  three  centuries  Europe  was  passing  raj)idly 
through  the  transformations  by  which  the  germs  of  the  middle 
ages  ripened  into  modern  civilization  and  culture.  The 
Spanish,  French  and  English  displayed  in  the  Valley  the 
characteristic  features  of  three  epochs  of  development — 
mental,  moral  and  economic — which  marked  the  transition 
of  Europe  from  a  rude  and  confused  state  to  the  clear  concep- 
tions and  harmonious  growth  of  the  present  century. 

The  Spanish  period  was  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Crusades  which  had  animated  Europe,  more  or  less,  for  four 
hundred  years.  The  Spaniards  may  be  called  the  Last  of  the 
Crusaders — who  slew  iniidels  for  the  love  of  God — but  it  was 
the  crusading  spirit  degenerated  and  overmastered  by  love  of 
gain  ill  the  soldier,  whose  violence  was  winked  at  by  the  min- 
isters of  religion,  partly  because  they  did  not  fully  see  the 
wrong  of  it,  and  partly  because  it  was  uncontrollable.  The 
Spaniards  had  just  completed  the  Moorish  wars,  which  were 
partly  patriotic  and  partly  religious,  and  from  which  they  had 
secured  great  gain  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Mohammedans 
and  the  possession  of  their  estates.  It  was  an  attractive  form 
of  piety  to  rude  warriors.  The  ebbing  waves  of  the  Moorish 
war  swept  away  the  elegant  civilization  which  the  followers 
of  the  Prophet  had  maintained  in  the  Spanish  peninsula  for 
eight  hundred  years,  and  left  the  Christian  cavaliers  in  pos- 
session of  their  cities  and  lands,  and  full  of  enthusiastic 
eagerness  to  enter  on  new  conquests  for  religion  on  similar 
terms.  A  fierce  and  sanguinary  religious  zeal,  in  their  eyes, 
atoned  for  the  injustice  of  taking  possession  of  the  property 
of  others  and  slaying  them,  or  reducing  them  to  the  hardest 
servitude,  unless  they  became  converts  to  the  faith. 

This  brutal  and  hideous  barbarism  in  a  civilized  Christian 
people  is  impossible  in  our  humanitarian  age,  which  shows 
how  much  the  ideas  of  men  have  been  reformed  in  three  cen- 


THE  CELELTY  OF  THE  S1■A^"IS^  IN  AMERICA.      169 

turies.  It  M'as  not  civilization  or  Christianity  ;  they  are  the 
chief  humanizing  and  benevolent  influences  to  which  progress 
is  due.  It  was  animal  force  trained  by  social  progress  to 
most  destructive  energy  before  the  principles  of  truth  and 
justice  had  become  clear  enough  in  the  mind  to  control  it. 
The  French  Jesuits  of  the  next  century  met  and  subdued  the 
Indian  by  mental,  rather  than  physical,  force  ;  a  sense  of 
justice  usually  characterized  the  Anglo-Americans  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  founded  the  American  Republic  ;  and 
our  own  century  is  fast  making  physical  force  and  the  pas- 
sions of  men  the  servant  of  humanity.  But  the  Spaniards, 
in  the  Moorish  war,  in  the  outlawry  of  the  Jews,  in  the  tor- 
turings  and  burnings  of  the  IiKpiisition,  in  the  use  of  fire 
and  sword  to  destroy  heresy  in  the  Netherlands,  and  the 
French  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  and  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Huguenots,  believed  themselves  praiseworthy  as 
destroyers  of  the  enemies  of  God  and  true  religion. 

This  bloody  faith  was  in  full  vigor  in  Southern  Europe  ' 
when  the  New  World  was  discovered,  and  the  resistless  force 
of  gunpowder  and  military  discipline  enabled  a  handful  of 
these  stern  and  mistaken  warriors — enthusiastic  to  extend  the 
area  of  Christianity  and  win  converts  at  the  sword's  jjoint — 
to  overthrow  armies  and  empires  in  America.  In  vain  did 
the  devoted  but  naked  valor  of  thousands  strive  to  destroy  by 
numbers,  and  their  primitive  weapons,  the  few  hundreds  of 
the  cruel  invaders.  Gunpowder,  discipline  and  steel  were 
irresistible.  To  the  inexperienced  natives  the  invaders — who 
profaned  every  object  of  their  veneration  and  robbed  them  of 
their  treasures  and  their  liberty  with  every  circumstance  of 
cruel  violence  when  they  spared  their  lives — must  have  seemed 
incarnate  fiends.  The  Spanish  conquests  and  explorations  in 
America  in  the  sixteenth  century  are  a  painful  comment  on  the 
religious  zeal  which  left  ambition  and  greed  free  for  such 
horrible  excesses. 

Spanish  exploration   in   the   direction   of  the  Mississippi 


170  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Valley  was  commenced  by  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  in  1512.  He 
had  been  one  of  the  companions  of  Columbus.  Approaching 
the  coast  of  the  continent  on  Easter  Sunday,  called  by  the 
Spaniards  Pascua  Florida,  he  named  it  Florida  for  that  reason 
and  because  the  shore  was  then  brilliant  with  flowers.  It 
was  the  peninsula  which  still  bears  that  name.  He  heard  a 
marvelous  tale  of  a  fountain  whose  waters  woiild  restore  to 
the  aged  the  energies  and  attractions  of  youth,  and,  fired  by 
curiosity  and  ambition,  returned  to  Spain  to  obtain  from  the 
king  authority  to  settle  and  rule  the  lands  he  had  discovered. 
This  obtained,  after  a  long  delay,  he  again  approached  Florida 
in  1521,  in  two  vessels,  with  the  men  and  means  to  found  a 
colony.  He  was  received  with  hostility  by  the  natives,  was 
himself  mortally  wounded  in  a  conflict  with  them  ;  many  of 
his  people  were  killed,  and  the  enterprise  was  al)andoned. 

In  the  previous  year,  De  Ajdlon,. another  Spanish  captain, 
landed  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  received  by 
the  natives  with  unsuspecting  friendliness  and  hospitality, 
which  he  rewarded  by  decoying  many  of  them  on  board  his 
vessel  and  at  once  setting  sail  for  St.  Domingo,  where  he  sold 
them  as  slaves  for  the  plantations  and  mines.  He  had  the 
hardihood  to  return  to  the  same  place  again  but  was  driven 
off  by  the  indignant  Indians. 

Gold,  in  small  quantity,  had  been  found  among  the  natives 
in  these  expeditions  and  another  Mexico  was  believed  to  lie 
in  the  interior.  While  Cortez  was  pursuing  his  conquest  of 
Mexico,  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez  had  attempted  to  rival  and 
arrest  him.  He  led  several  hundred  men  into  Mexico  to  sup- 
plant Cortez,  but  was  overcome  by  the  skill  and  rapidity  of 
that  able  captain.  His  little  army  joined  Cortez  who  dis- 
missed him  without  harm  other  than  what  he  received  in 
battle. 

Some  years  later — in  April,  1528 — De  Narvaez  succeeded 
in  collecting  a  force  of  three  hundred  men  and  eighty  horses, 
with  which  he  landed  on  the  west  coast  of  Florida.     He  eagerly 


NARVAEZ    AND    DE  SOTO    IN    THE    VALLEY.  171 

inquired  of  tlic  natives  for  the  "  Land  of  Gold."  The  simple 
hunters  did  not  know  of  snch  a  country,  but,  alarmed  by 
the  presence  of  a  force  so  formidable,  encouraged  him  to 
look  for  it  further  on.  Tliere  being  little  worth  plunder- 
ing among  these  roving  tribes,  he  pushed  his  way  through 
the  morasses  and  swamps  of  this  low,  sickly  region,  trying  to 
find  a  clue  to  the  object  of  his  hopes  for  six  months,  when, 
disappointed  in  his  ambition,  and  perishing  with  toil  and  fam- 
ine, he  attempted  to  reach  Mexico  by  sea.  He  was  shipwrecked 
on  tlie  coast,  and  but  four  or  five  of  his  followers,  after  long 
M'anderings,  reached  their  eountVymen. 

So  many  disasters  and  the  great  attractions  of  Mexico, 
Central  America  and  Peru,  turned  attention  from  the  Valley 
for  nearly  ten  years;  but  it  was  still  believed  that  there  was, 
somewhere  in  the  Valley  region,  treasure  worth  jilundering 
and  a  people  sufficiently  civilized  to  l)e  worthy  of  the  steel  of 
the  cavalier  and  the  zeal  of  the  priest.  Ferdinand  de  Soto 
had  gained  tame  and  imniense  wealth  with  Piatirro,  in  Peru, 
and,  being  made  Governor  of  Culja,  he  determined  to  increase 
both  by  the  discovery  and  conquest  of  this  supposed  wealthy 
nation  in  the  Valley.  Raising  his  standard  for  this  purpose 
in  Spain,  he  collected  nearly  a  thousand  followers,  many  of 
them  being  nobles  and  grandees.  Elaborate  preparations 
were  made.  Two  hundred  and  thirteen  horses,  mounted  by 
chosen  cavaliers,  stores  of  all  kinds,  among  which  were  hogs, 
cattle  and  mules,  were  provided.  It  was  a  much  larger  and 
better  appointed  expedition  than  those  with  which  Cortez  and 
Pizarro  had  conquered  the  warlike  Aztecs,  and  the  well  organ- 
ized kingdom  of  the  Incas.  De  Soto  landed  in  Tampa  Bay, 
on  the  west  coast  of  Florida.     This  was  in  June,  1539. 

A  company  of  priests,  who  were  to  labor  for  the  conversion 
and  instruction  of  the  natives,  were  added  to  the  expedition 
and  gave  it  the  air  and  meaning  of  a  crusade.  A  pack  of 
blood  hounds,  for  tracking  fugitive  natives,  added  to  the  cruel 
significance   of   the  array.      This   imposing   little   army,  of 


172  THK    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

wliicli  great  things  were  expected — inchiding  a  fresli  conquest 
to  the  clmrcli  and  the  state,  much  renown  and  great  wealth 
— was  huided,  in  liigli  liojie,  from  the  five  vessels  which 
brouglit  it  and  its  bountiful  stores.  The  vessels  then  went 
back  to  Cuba,  with  orders  to  return  to  Pensacola  Bay  with 
fresh  supplies  in  October  of  the  following  year.  He  marched 
north,  constantly  attacked  by  the  Indians,  multitudes  of  whom 
were  slain,  and  otliers  captured  to  carry  the  baggage  and  per- 
form the  menial  offices  of  tlie  camp.  De  Soto  spent  the  win- 
ter near  Tallahassee.  A  Spaniard,  who  had  been  a  captive 
among  the  Indians  since  the  expedition  of  Narvaez  and 
learned  their  language,  served  as  interpreter. 

Constant  inquiries  for  the  Land  of  Gold  were  usually 
answered  by  directions  to  go  toward  the  noi'thwest.  One 
poor  Indian,  more  frank  than  the  rest,  declared  that  he  knew 
no  such  country,  and  was  burned  alive,  as  intending  to  deceive. 
Tlius,  strewing  his  route  wdth  cruelty  and  death,  this  crusad- 
ing captain  pursued  his  way,  when  spring  0])ened,  toward 
northern  Georgia.  Most  of  the  tribes,  awed  by  his  formid- 
able force,  received  him  with  a])j)arent  friendliness,  and  many 
with  the  truest  courtesy  and  kindness.  All  submitted,  with- 
out resistance,  to  his  demands  for  food  and  for  slaves  of  both 
sexes  to  serve  his  army  and  carry  its  baggage.  Submission 
did  not  always  save  them  from  shameful  treatment.  Passing 
tlirough  middle  Georgia  he  sent  an  exploring  party  into  the 
more  nmuntainous  north,  but,  as  tliey  found  no  cities  or  gold, 
he  marched  southwest  across  Alabama. 

About  a  hundred  miles  from  the  Gulf  coast  was  the  Indian 
town  of  Maubila,  surrounded  witli  a  palisade  fortification. 
Its  chief  received  the  strangers  with  the  usual  courtesies,  but 
he  was  more  resolute,  warlike,  and  powerful  than  the  rest,  and 
he  secretly  proposed  to  destroy  his  unwelcome  guests.  A  part 
of  De  Soto's  army,  with  the  baggage,  was  in  advance  of  the 
rest,  and  no  sooner  had  the  stores  been  lodged  within  the 
town  than  the  Indians  closed  tlie  gates  and  l)egan  the  attack 


DE   SOTO's    CEUSADE    MISCARRIES.  173 

on  the  advance  guard.  In  the  surprise  and  desperate  fight 
that  ensued  2, .500  of  the  natives  are  said  to  liave  been 
killed.  Tlie  Europeans  conquered  after  a  struggle  of  nine 
hours,  during  which  the  town  was  fired,  the  baggage  con- 
sumed, and  UKiny  men  and  liorses  killed.  The  conquerors 
were  in  bad  plight.  The  aim  of  the  promising  e.xpedition 
liad  failed,  the  provisions  and  baggage  were  mostly  lost,  and 
only  hostility  could  be  expected  from  the  Indians  in  the 
future. 

It  was  now  October,  1540.  De  Soto  had  been  about  a  year 
and  four  months  in  the  country,  and  his  vessels,  with  supplies, 
lay  in  Pensacola  Bay,  not  far  from  a  liundred  miles  distant. 
But  De  Soto  was  worthy  of  being  called  the  peer  of  Cortez 
and  Pizarro.  If  unflinching  determination  and  cruel  bravery 
could  have  given  him  success,  he  must  have  gained  it.  His 
followers  were  discouraged,  and  wished  to  abandon  a  hopeless 
quest.  To  go  to  his  vessels  was  to  renounce  the  chance  of 
fame  and  riclies;  he  determined  to  turn  his  back  on  supplies 
and  home,  and  make  a  fresh  attempt.  His  stern  decision  sub- 
dued discontent  and  awakened  confidence;  his  followers  sub- 
mitted to  his  will  and  followed  him  to  the  northwest.  He 
spent  the  winter  in  Mississippi,  where  a  night  attack  of  the 
Indians  surprised  his  troops  in  their  beds,  tlieir  light  cabins 
were  set  on  fire  at  the  first  onset,  and  many  escaped  only  with 
their  lives. 

Their  means  of  protection  and  defense  M'ere  now  greatly 
reduced,  but,  repairing  the  damage,  as  far  as  possible,  they 
wore  away  the  winter  in  frequent  contests  with  the  natives, 
whom  they  despoiled  of  food  to  sustain  themselves.  In  the 
spring  De  Soto  resumed  his  route,  crossed  the  Mississippi  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Memphis,  his  force  still  sufficiently  for- 
midable for  self-protection.  They  were  the  first  Europeans 
who  beheld  the  Gi-eat  River.  De  Soto  wandered  over  the  M-es- 
tern  Valley,  in  search  of  a  people  worthy  to  be  conquered, 
for  a  year,  in  vain.     He  pushed  far  back  in  Arkansas  and  to 


174  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  borders  of  Missouri,  and  returned,  broken  in  health  and 
sick  at  heart  at  the  failure  of  all  his  hopes,  to  die  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi,  May  21,  1542.  His  diminished  and  dis- 
heartened followers  now  thought  of  nothing  but  how  to  escape 
with  life  from  the  fatal  Valley.  They  first  sought  to  reach 
Mexico  by  land,  but  found  the  difficulties  so  great  that  they 
soon  returned  to  the  river,  built  boats,  in  which  they  descended 
to  the  Gulf,  and  coasted  along  Texas  to  the  settlements  of  their 
countrymen.  Of  the  army,  nearly  a  thousand  strong,  which 
had  landed  in  Florida,  three  liundred  and  eleven  escaped  the 
perils  of  the  wilderness,  the  vengeance  of  the  Indians,  whose 
retaliation  they  had  provoked,  and  the  dangers  of  the  Gulf. 
About  twenty  years  later  St.  Augustine  was  founded,  and  in 
the  course  of  time  settlements  were  commenced  in  Texas; 
but  these  were  more  for  purposes  of  barter  with  the  natives  and 
to  shut  out  other  European  nations,  by  taking  nominal  pos- 
session, than  from  a  real  design  of  actual  occupation  and  use. 
The  disastrous  termination  of  the  two  expeditions — of  Narvaez 
and  De  Soto — convinced  the  Spaniards  that  there  was  no  civil- 
ization worthy  to  be  overthrown,  and  no  consideralile  amoutit 
of  gold  within  reach  in  the  Valley.  Tlie  real  wealth  of  the 
Vallev  hild  no  attractions  to  them.  It  did  nut  encourage 
those  who  sought  unlawful  gains,  and  its  savage  tribes  .refused 
to  become  slaves.  Thus,  the  old  immoralities  and  evils  of 
European  life  took  no  root  here.  The  resources  of  this  region 
could  be  really  developed  only  by  an  industrious  and  thrifty 
people,  at  first  almost  entirely  agricultural..  Any  other  must 
have  but  a  slight  and  temporary  hold  upon  it.  When  the 
right  people  came  it  gave  them  more  than  the  wealth  of  the 
Indies. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    FRENCH  IN  NORTH  AMERIf'A  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY. 

While  the  Spanish  were  following  up  their  conqiiests  and 
discoveries  of  wealth,  from  Mexico  to  Chili,  by  a  severity  of 
rule  that  soon  destroyed  the  blooming  civilizations  they  had 
found,  Europe  was  passing  through  an  important  change. 
The  germs  of  a  new  learning  and  wisdom  had  matured  very 
significant  fruit,  and  the  seventeenth  century  gave  evident 
signs  of  the  near  approach  of  a  new  and  more  perfect  devel- 
opment of  civilization.  The  institutions  and  habits  inherited 
from  the  past  still  embarrassed  some  forms  of  this  growth  in 
the  Old  World,  and  many  sought  both  religious  and  civil 
liberty  on  the  New  Continent.  The  English  colonies  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  laid  the  foundation  of  new  institutions  early 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  which  were  to  be  fully  organized 
late  in  the  eighteenth,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after. 

Changes  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  the  measured  and 
consistent  result  of  tendencies  firmly  established  in  their  char- 
acter, and  developed  from  the  primitive  institutions  of  the 
race.  They  reached  a  late  but  most  noble  maturity.  The 
French,  on  the  contrary,  were  quick  to  respond  to  a  new 
movement  or  tendency  from  without,  and,  for  the  time, 
became  its  most  complete  embodiment.  Rapid  in  thought 
and  enthusiastic  in  following  out  a  theory  to  the  farthest 
results  permitted  by  circumstances,  the  pulse  of  change  was 
always  tii-st  felt  by  them,  and  its  direction  indicated  more 
clearly  than  by  any  other  European  nation.  Anglo-Saxons  were 
averse  to  change  until  all  was  ripe  for  it;  the  French  at  once 
discarded  as  much  of  the  old  as  possible,  and  quickly  adjusted 
themselves  to  the  new — putting  theory  into  practice  with 
rapid  completeness.     Tliey  were  the  first  in  the  eighth  century 

175 


176  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

to  catch  the  spirit  of  a  new  modern  civilization,  and  hastened 
to  organize  it  in  the  great  empire  of  Charlemagne.  When 
the  concentration  of  power  in  a  single  administration  was 
interrupted  by  the  growth  of  Feudalism,  they  developed  that 
system  in  greater  completeness  than  in  any  other  country  in 
Europe;  when  the  strengthening  of  the  royal  power  was 
required  to  overcome  the  abuses  of  that  system,  the  French 
king  became  soonest  an  absolute  ruler;  and  when  theories  of 
republican  liberty  were  promulgated  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  eagerness  of  the  French  people  to 
embody  them  overthrew  the  throne,  the  nobility  and  the 
priesthood  by  one  vast  explosion. 

This  French  habit  of  catching  the  first  breath  of  social 
and  political  or  other  change,  reducing  it  to  a  consistent  sys- 
tem, and  at  once  seeking  the  end  with  too  little  regard  to  the 
means,  was  very  characteristically  shown  in  America  in  the 
seventeenth  century  by  many  of  the  most  prominent  rej)resent- 
atives  of  that  nation  who  visited  the  New  AVorld.  The  plans 
of  Champlain,  and  of  the  French  Jesuits  who  accompanied  him, 
at  once  took  in  all  of  the  continent  with  which  they  were 
acquainted,  and  which  they  thought  it  desirable  to  control. 
Instead  of  building  up  quietly  and  solidly  on  the  coast,  as 
did  the  English,  their  first  care  was  to  penetrate  to  the  inte- 
rior and  form  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes  nearly  a  thou- 
sand jniles  from  the  sea.  Important  missions,  that  had  a 
political  as  well  as  a  religious  aim,  were  immediately  com- 
menced on  Lake  Huron,  above  the  western  center  of  the  Val- 
ley, to  which  the  English  did  not  attempt  to  penetrate  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years. 

The  Age  of  Physical  Force  had  culminated  in  Europe,  and 
the  Age  of  Mental  Force  began  to  dawn.  As  usual,  the 
French  at  once  recognized  the  new  tone,  and  became  its  first 
eminent  representatives.  The  system  of  the  Jesuits  was  one 
remarkable  form  under  which  mental  and  moral  force  was 
first  substituted  for  physical  coercion.     The  nation  which,  in 


THE    SPIRIT    OF    FRENCH    EXPLORATION.  177 

the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  produced  the  horrors 
of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  tlie  tirst  half  of  the  sev- 
enteenth, adopted  a  mild  and  humane  Indian  policy  that  made 
almost  every  red  man  their  friend,  and  furnished  a  long  list  of 
Jesuit  missionaries,  animated  with  the  lofty  spirit  of  martyrs. 
They  shrunk  from  no  dangers  or  sufferings,  and  calmly  sub- 
mitted to  the  cruelest  tortures  and  death,  to  which,  indeed, 
they  looked  forward  when  going  hundreds  of  miles  from  all 
civilized  companionship,  among  the  most  ruthless  of  mankind. 

This  spirit  in  the  French  commanders  and  priests  was  pre- 
cisely the  opposite  of  that  which  had  moved  the  same  classes 
of  Spaniards  in  the  previous  century,  and,  usually,  in  the 
long  run,  secured  the  absolute  trust  and  devotion  of  the 
Indian  tribes.  It  was  in  this  spirit  that  the  French  under- 
took the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  about  the 
year  1673.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  had,  some  time  before, 
established  missions  near  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior  and  on 
Green  Bay.  Marquette,  a  French  priest,  accompanied  by 
Joliet,  a  trader,  and  five  other  Frenchmen,  aided  by  the 
Indians  of  Green  Bay,  carried  two  frail  Indian  canoes  across 
the  portage  separating  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Rivers,  and 
floated  down  the  latter  stream  to  the  Mississippi,  undeterred 
by  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  the  Indians,  who  represented 
that  they  were  rushing  into  unknown  but  terrible  dangers. 
They  were  the  first  white  men  to  furrow  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Great  River. 

Amazed,  delighted  yet  awed  by  the  vast  and  magnificent 
solitude,  they  descended  the  river  to  the  Arkansas,  not  far 
from  where  the  unfortunate,  but  ruthless,  De  Soto  had  met 
his  fate  and  been  buried  in  its  waters.  They  discovei'ed  no 
traces  of  men  on  the  way  until  they  reached  the  lower  bound- 
ary of  Iowa.  Here  a  pathway  showed  signs  of  human  pres- 
ence. They  came  as  friends  to  the  Indians  of  the  Valley; 
for  it  was  the  principle  of  the  French  in  America  through 
this  century  to  make  the  red  men  their  allies  and  aids.  They 
12 


178  THE    MlSSlSSU'l'l    VALLEY. 

relied  on, the  influence  of  mental  superiority  to  control  them. 
Marquette  and  his  companions  did  not,  therefore,  hesitate  to 
follow  up  these  traces.  Fourteen  miles,  it  is  related,  from 
the  Mississippi  they  found  a  band  of  the  tribe  of  the  Illinois. 
The  fame  and  good  name  of  the  French  had  preceded  them 
in  the  northern  Valley,  and  they  were  received  with  friendly 
and  solemn  enthusiasm.  These  Indians  freely  gave  all  the 
information  and  aid  they  could  to  the  white  strangers. 

Cheered  and  comforted  by  the  sympathy  of  the  simple 
natives,  and  furnished  by  them  with  the  "  Pipe  of  Peace," 
to  secure  them  a  friendly  reception  from  the  fierce  tribes 
below,  they  proceeded  on  their  way;  but  the  route  was  too 
long  and  the  unknown  dangers  were  judged  too  great  to 
attempt  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  river.  From  the  Arkan- 
sas they  retraced  their  weary  way  to  tlie  mouth  of  the  Illinois, 
which  they  ascended  to  Chicago,  holding  friendly  intercourse 
with  such  of  the  prairie  tribes  as  they  met.  Launching  their 
barks  on  Lake  Michigan  they  coasted  back  to  Green  Bay. 
Such  was  the  adventurous  and  trustful  daring  of  the  French 
Jesuits. 

The  Great  River  and  the  beautiful  Valley  were  now  defi- 
nitely comprehended,  and  the  genius  of  the  French  for  bold 
and  far-reaching  plans  at  once  sprung  into  play.  In  Canada 
the  French  were  confined  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  tributa- 
ries by  the  English  settlements  of  New  England  and  New 
York.  More  than  one  French  governor  cherished  the  plan 
of  attempting  to  gain  possession  of  the  valley  of  the  Hudson 
for  the  sake  of  a  better  seaport  on  the  Atlantic  than  was  fur- 
nished by  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  was  closed  by  the  ice 
several  months  in  the  year.  These  plans  it  was  impossible  to 
execute  from  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois  tribes  and  the 
superior  development  of  the  English  colonies.  They  now 
formed  the  great  plan  of  connecting  the  settlements  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  with  the  Great  Valley,  and  so  surrounding  the 
English  colonies  from  the  rear. 


LA    SALLE    AND    HIS    PLANS    FOR    THE    VALLEY.  179 

This  idea  first  became  a  clear  and  fixed  purpose  with 
Robert  Cavalier  de  La  Salle.  He  possessed  the  true  French 
genius  for  bold  generalizations  with  a  resoluteness  and  active 
energy  that  would  be  daunted  by  no  misfortunes  or  difficul- 
ties. He  was  fired  with  a  lofty  enthusiasm  by  the  report  of 
Martjuette  and  Joliet,  immediately  conceived  a  grand  enter- 
prise, and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  a  vain  struggle 
with  men,  nature  and  accident,  to  realize  it.  In  his  clear 
practical  sense,  his  manly  resolution  and  inflexible  obstinacy, 
he  was  perhaps  more  English  than  French.  Too  unbending 
to  conciliate,  he  found  many  and  powerful  enemies.  But  for 
them  he  would  probably  have  succeeded  in  firmly  planting 
the  wrong  people  on  the  Great  River  and  its  branches,  and 
in  greatly  changing  the  destiny  of  the  Valley,  as  well  as 
in  deferring  considerably  the  rapidity  of  European  as  well  as 
American  development.  That  he  and  his  successors  failed  was 
well  for  the  liberties  and  pi'ogress  of  the  world  ;  for  the  com- 
plete success  of  his  comprehensive  plans  would  have  made  the 
fairest  part  of  North  America,  with  its  incalculable  wealth, 
French  instead  of  Anglo-Saxon  ;  and  this  New  France,  or 
Louisiana — colonized  a  hundred  years  too  soon — would  have 
included  too  many  of  the  vices  of  the  Europe  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  A  watchful  intelligence,  with  a  steady  purpose,  still 
shielded  the  Valley  from  premature  settlement. 

We  can  not  fail  to  sympathize  with  the  disasters  and  disap- 
pointments of  La  Salle  and  to  feel  indignant  with  the  bitter 
enemies  who  neutralized  so  much  fortitude,  heroic  energy 
and  patriotic  ambition,  although  his  success  would  have  been 
a  great  misfortune  for  America. 

Sustained  by  the  approval  of  the  Governor  of  Canada  and 
the  French  ministry,  La  Salle,  about  1678,  collected  his 
resources,  mortgaged  his  estates  and  borrowed  of  his  friends, 
to  equip  an  expedition  for  thoroughly  exploring  the  Great 
River.  The  length  of  the  route,  the  malice  of  his  enemies, 
and  the  unfriendliness  of  circumstances,  interfered  with  his 


ISO  THP:    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

designs  again  and  again  ;  but  difficnlty  Onlv  .-.erveil  to , 
strengthen  his  resohition.  He  built  a  vessel  of  sixty  tons 
above  the  cataract  of  Niagara  and  freighted  it  with  furs  on 
the  borders  of  Lake  Micliigan.  The  sale  of  the  furs  was  to  fur- 
nish him  fresh  supplies  for  his  expedition.  Tlie  vessel  and 
furs  were  lost,  and  various  other  disasters  occurred  to  delay 
his  voyage  down  the  Mississippi  to  its  nioutli  until  1682. 
Arrived  then  at  the  nioutli  of  the  river  he  soieinnly  took 
possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the  French  king, 
Louis  XIV. 

He  had  already  sent  Hennepin,  a  Franciscan  priest,  to  ex- 
plore the  upper  river.  Plennepin  ascended  as  far  as  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony.  La  Salle  established  a  fort  and  trading-house 
on  the  Illinois  River,  near  Peoria.  He  had  set  his  resolute 
will  on  theestablishmentof  acolony  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  ; 
and  he  now  retraced  his  steps,  as  fast  as  the  difficulties  of  the 
ascent  against  the  current  and  his  own  illness  jiermitted,  and 
regained  Mackinaw.  The  security  of  his  little  colony  in 
Illinois  and  the  protection  of  his  Indian  allies  from  the 
Iroquois,  whose  war  parties  roamed  over  the  broad  prairies 
almost  to  the  Mississippi,  detained  him  another  year  in  the 
Valley,  when  he  returned  to  France.  He  had  passed  over 
more  than  4,000  miles  and  back,  through  the  territory  of 
multitudes  of  Indian  tribes,  and  safely  returned,  mostly  in 
frail  canoes,  with  but  twenty-two  companions,  and  depending, 
in  large  part,  on  the  hospitality  of  the  Indians  for  supplies  of 
food.  Evidently,  the  humane  and  friendly  spirit  of  the  French 
brought  its  reward. 

Received  with  honor  at  the  French  court,  in  spite  of  the  active 
efforts  of  formidable  enemies.  La  Salle  soon  organized  an  expe- 
dition for  founding  acolony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the  river  with  his  vessels,  con- 
taining 280  persons,  soldiers  or  settlers,  by  the  first  of  the 
year  1685  ;  but  the  commander  of  the  vessels  was  in  the  inter- 
est of  his  enemies,  they  missed  the  mouth  of  the  river  by 


j^ 


IBERVILLE  FOLLOWS  THE  PLANS  OF  LA  SALLE.     181 

Bailing  too  far  west,  the  commander  wonld  not  return  to 
search  for  it,  and  landed  La  Salle  and  his  colony  on  the 
unknown  shore  of  Texas.  And  now  misfortune  followed 
misfortune.  The  Indians  proved  unfriendly,  his  store  ship 
was  wrecked  and  a  large  j)art  of  his  supplies  lost,  and  other 
stores  were  carried  oft'  by  the  traitorous  commander  who 
sailed  for  France,  leaving  La  Salle  and  his  colony  in  their 
great  distress.  Seeing  no  alternative,  after  two  years  spent  in 
seeking  the  River  and  struggling  against  disaster,  he  started 
for  Canada  to  procure  aid.  Calamity  roused  the  evil  passions 
of  some  of  his  companions,  and,  in  the  wilds  of  Texas,  La 
Salle  was  murdered  by  one  of  his  own  people,  March  17,  1687. 
His  colonists  were  mostly  massacred  by  the  Indians,  and 
thus,  of  the  heroic  efibrts  of  so  many  years,  little  remained 
but  a  knowledge  of  the  Valley  and  of  its  beauty. 

In  1699,  D'Iberville,  a  French  Canadian  naval  hero,  suc- 
ceeded in  accomplishing  what  La  Salle,  by  no  fault  of  his 
own,  had  failed  of  doing.  He  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  March  2,  and  established  near  it  a  permanent  colony 
of  hardy  Canadians.  For  nearly  a  century  a  large  part  of 
the  Valle}',  belonged  nominally,  to  the  French. 

D'Iberville  built  his  fort  in  the  last  year  of  the  seventeenth 
century  at  Biloxi,  some  distance  east  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.  In  the  next  year  a  fort  was  erected  on  the  river 
above  its  mouth,  and  Le  Sueur  ascended  to  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Peters,  in  Minnesota,  in  search  of  mines.  In  1701 
Mobile  was  founded  by  D'Iberville.  French  priests,  traders 
and  "  conreurs  des  bois  " — wood  runners,  or  hunters — became 
familiar  with  a  large  part  of  the  Valley  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. Could  La  Salle  have  lived  and  received  the  full  co- 
operation of  the  government  and  people  that  his  broad  plans 
merited,  French  power  might  have  been  firmly  settled  in  the 
Valley.  The  settlement  of  Canada  was  due  to  the  energy 
and  capacity  of  Champlain.  An  able  leader,  spared  to  guide 
and  plan  for  twenty  or  thirty  vears,  could  have  done  still  more 
for  Louisiana. 


182  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

But  the  French  Government  was  too  absorbed  in  European 
politics,  court  intrigues,  financial  difficulties,  and  foreign  wars, 
to  paj  much  attention  to  its  American  possessions  till  it  was 
too  late;  monopolies  and  official  corruption,  both  at  home  and  in 
the  colonies,  prevented  healthy  growth,  and  emigration  was  not 
made  attractive.  Besides,  the  French  people  loved  "  La  Belle 
France  "  too  much  to  emigrate  in  large  numbers.  Inspired, 
for  the  moment,  by  brilliant  theories  and  prospects,  the  French 
have  often  undertaken  more  than  they  could  reasonaljly  hope 
to  accomplish.  With  only  spasmodic  and  inadei^uate  care 
from  home,  arbitrarily  governed  in  the  colony,  a  few  thousand 
colonists  were  lost  in  the  wilderness  and  ambition  and  indus- 
try shrunk  to  narrow  limits. 

Anglo-Saxon  energy  and  self-dependence  would  probably 
have  laid  a  broad  foundation  for  future  growth.  The  pliant 
yielding  to  circumstances  and  the  courteous  tact  that  recom- 
mended the  French  to  the  Indians  sprung  from  traits  of  charac- 
ter that  unfitted  them  for  overcoming  the  great  difficulties  of 
such  a  situation.  There  were  too  few  Champlains  and  La  Salles, 
the  Jesuits  became  ambitious  of  wealth  and  power,  lost  their 
great  religious  zeal  tor  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  in  the 
Valley — whom  they,  indeed,  found  most  unpromising  material 
for  organizing  into  strong  communities — and  became  unpop- 
ular both  in  Europe  and  America.  The  embarrassments  to 
individual  enterprise  in  the  French  colonies  left  a  blight  upon 
them  which  they  bore  with  a  tranquility  and  patience  not 
favorable  to  progress. 

All  these  and  some  other  causes  prevented  the  French  occu- 
pation of  the  Valley  from  becoming  ihncli  more  than  nomi- 
nal, and  still  left  it  free  for  the  energetic  agriculturists  who 
were,  by  and  by,  to  find  their  way  tt)  it  over  the  AUeghanies. 
So  slowly  did  the  interior  settlements  increase  that  a  census, 
taken  in  1799,  showed  "  Upper  Louisiana "  to  contain  less 
than  5,000  white  inhabitants.  That  same  hundred  years  had 
seen  the  English  on  the  Atlantic  grow  up  from  a  few  scattered 
settlements  into  a  great  nation. 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

ENGLISH     EXPLORATIONS     IN    THE     VALLEY     IN    THE     EIGHTEENTH 

CENTURY. 

While  Spanish  visitors  to  the  Valley  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury were  in  search  of  treasures  which  would  enricli  the  adven- 
turer, and  of  kingdoms  worthy  to  be  conquered  and  Christian- 
ized by  the  sword,  and  French  enterprises  looked  to  permanent 
occupation  through  alliance  with,  and  conversion  of,  the 
Indians  by  persuasion,  the  English  intruder  paid  no  more 
attention  to  the  natives  than  was  unavoidable,  and  i-ather 
sought  a  hovie  than  the  realization  of  far-reaching  plans. 
He  was  not  an  adventurer  but  an  emigrant ;  he  was  founding 
a  commonwealth  in  diligent,  serious  earnest.  This  was  a 
very  modern  feature  and  indicated  a  rapid  evolution  of  the 
principles  of  true  civilization. 

The  revolt  against  the  foolish  and  repressive  policy  of  Euro- 
pean governments  was  based  in  England  on  a  widespread 
intelligence  and  the  resolute  character  of  the  individual 
Englishman.  In  France  it  was  a  flowing  ajid  ebbing  wave 
that  now  yielded  passively  to  obstacles  and  again  gathered 
all  its  strength  to  rush  against  and  overthrow  them.  During 
the  lirst  three  quarters  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  French 
people  were  gathering  their  energies  for  one  of  these  fearful 
upheavals  in  the  last  quarter  ;  and  the  English  in  America 
were  growing  up  into  strength  to  found  liberal  institutions 
modeled  on  those  of  the  mother  country.  When  the  time 
came  they  stood  up  to  assert  and  defend  their  liberties  with 
quiet  and  resolute  dignity — without  wrath  but  also  without 
fear. 

Such  was  the  progress  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  laid 
the  foundations  for  an  admirable  Republic  in   America  and 

183 


184  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

tor  a  transformation  of  Europe  no  less  remarkable  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  We  may  consider  the  Anglo-American 
as  the  leading  representative  of  civilization.  The  isolation 
in  a  common  comparative  poverty,  community  of  dangers, 
stniggles  against  difficulties,  and  the  disappearance  of  the 
more  glaring  social  distinctions  from  ordinary  life,  tended  to 
consolidate  the  colonies,  to  increase  their  sense  of  justice,  to 
make  them  considerate  and  impartial  in  sympathy.  If  tlie 
Anglo-American  was  far  from  being  complete  in  these  virtues, 
they  were  yet  comparatively  strong  in  him.  They  did  not 
give  liim  the  suave  courtesy  and  politeness  of  the  French,  but 
his  good  will  was  hearty  and  real. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  his  desire  to  deal  fairly  witli  the 
Indians,  according  to  his  own  rather  stiif  notions  of  fairness, 
he  rarely  lived  on  really  pleasant  terms  with  them  long  at  a 
time,  at  least  on  any  other  base  than  that  of  fear.  He  made 
no  attempt  to  reduce  them  to  servitude  like  the  Spanish,  he 
did  not  often  try  to  make  tools  of  them  like  the  1^'rench,  and 
generally  was  willing  to  give  them  what  he  considered  an 
equivalent  for  the  lands  he  occupied,  though  oilen  driving  a 
very  hard  bargain  with  the  thoughtless  and  unbusiness-like 
natives,  who,  when  they  realized  all  the  results,  were  apt  to 
repudiate  it  as  great  injustice. 

With  such  a  revolt  of  the  Indian  he  had  little  sympathy, 
holding  that  a  bargiiin  once  made  was  irrevocable,  andpunish- 
ins:  Indian  disreijard  of  such  arraiiirements  witii  stern  severitv. 
He  could  not  enter  into  the  feelings  of  the  Indian  like  the 
Frenchman,  and  humor  his  weaknesses  or  his  ignorance,  and 
the  Indian  quite  failed  to  appreciate  civilized  virtues.  His 
quiet,  unceasing  industry  and  the  steady,  resistless  spread  of 
his  settlements,  were  full  of  menace  and  terror  to  the  Indian. 
The  wild  hunter,  to  whom  he  had  no  essential  ill  will,  but  to 
whom  a  sudden  change  of  habits  was  impossible,  was  obliged 
to  retire  before  him.  The  favorite  iields  and  forests,  where 
his    fathers    had    roved    without   restraint,    were    soon    con- 


CAUSES    OF    INDIAN    HOSTILITY    TO    AMERICANS.  185 

verted  into  farms  and  dotted  with  villages  and  towns.  The 
Indian's  eye  was  oflended  by  the  sight  of  a  smiling  plenty  so 
agreeable  to  the  civilized  man,  and  his  heart  swelled  with  fear 
and  rage  when  he  saw  the  pioneers  of  this  formidable  emigra- 
tion prospecting  over  his  cherished  hunting  grounds  in  the 
Valley. 

The  Enarlish  were  neither  roviiiir  in  search  of  fabulous 
wealth  nor  seeking  for  allies  ;  they  were  building  a  future — 
too  busy  and  too  strong  to  court  or  fear  the  Indian.  If  he 
retaliated  on  the  whites,  by  bloody  massacres,  the  loss  of  his 
woods  and  prairies,  he  was  punished  with  unrelenting  severity 
and  obliged  to  move  farther  away.  The  order,  the  freedom, 
the  prosperity  of  the  Anglo-American,  was  the  doom  of  the 
wild  hunter.  He  would  none  of  it,  he  loathed  and  cursed 
it  and  fled  before  it,  after  having,  by  many  a  vengeful 
deed  of  blood,  sought  in  vain  to  stay  the  tide  of  prosperous 
civilization.  Thus  the  English  exploration  of  the  Valley  was 
met  by  the  most  determined  hostility  and  the  progress  of  set- 
tlement could  be  maintained  only  by  an  apjjroach  to  the 
extermination  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

Even  the  haughty  and  bloody  Spaniard  drew  out  toward 
himself  from  the  Indian  heart  a  less  deep  and  bitter  resent- 
ment than  did  the  English  explorer  and  settler.  The  Indians 
were  warriors  themselves,  accustomed  to  cruel  and  barbarous 
deeds,  and  could  ajjpreciate  and  admire  the  brilliant  courage 
and  prowess  of  the  roving  Spaniards,  who  seldom  allowed 
victory  to  escape  them.  Tliey  also  were  accustomed  to  follow 
victory  by  slaughter  and  the  slavery  of  the  captives  ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  more  rational  and  more  politic  French 
style  of  making  converts  to  the  faith  and  gaining  over  the 
Indians  to  their  interest,  instead  of  crushing  opposition  by 
brute  force,  these  gallant  gentlemen  and  devoted  priests 
could  be  ruthless  and  cruel  to  their  enemies  in  a  style  quite 
appreciable  to  the  Indian,  tVir  the  did  sjiirit  of  the  crusades 
and  the  inquisition  had  not  yet  wlmllv  died  out  in  this  vigor- 


1S6  THK    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ous  Catholic  race.  Tliuugh  turned  into  a  new  channel  by 
the  exquisitely  skillful  and  subtle  policy  of  the  Jesuits  and  the 
still  more  humane  spirit  of  other  Catholic  priests,  it  still 
remained  to  persecute  and  proscribe  the  Huguenot,  and  to 
add  the  intensity  of  hate  to  the  animosity  felt  toward  their 
political  foes  of  New  England  and  New  York. 

But  the  Englishman  was  a  daring  soldier  only  by  necessity. 
He  did  not  attract  these  children  of  nature  by  ruthless  con- 
quest nor  by  sympathetic  condescension.  Busy  and  reserved, 
he  showed  them  little  courtesy,  which  greatly  wounded  their 
pride  and  self-respect.  He  troubled  himself  little  about  them 
unless  they  intruded  on  him,  when  he  was  haughty  and  con- 
temptuous; or  when  they  committed  injuries,  which  he  pun- 
ished with  a  severity  that  seemed  to  him  just.  The  more  the 
English  settlements  prospered,  the  higher  the  star  of  civiliza- 
tion rose,  and  the  more  industry,  art,  commercial  and  ])olitical 
liberty  flourished,  the  less  room  was  there  for  the  wild  and 
wasteful  Indian  hunter,  the  more  helpless,  dependent  and 
degraded  he  became.  He  would  not,  as,  indeed,  he  could  not, 
accept  civilization,  and  share  in  the  hopes  and  prosperity 
which  the  New  Age  promised  to  the  New  "World.  The  grow- 
ing l)enevolence  and  pity  of  a  people  daily  becoming  more 
enlightened  and  just  to  their  kind  in  general,  could  not  be 
expressed  to  his  comprehension,  for  the  space  required  by  an 
industrious  population  under  the  stimulus  of  an  unexampled 
prosperity  pushed  him  further  and  further  from  his  ancient 
hunting  grounds  and  the  graves  of  his  fathers,  and  his  resent- 
ful retaliations  made  desolating  punishments  unavoidable. 
Thus  the  most  enlightened  and  humane  era  of  exploration — 
so  far  as  the  real  character  and  purposes  of  the  explorers  were 
concerned — became  the  most  wasting  and  ruinous  to  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  Valley.  To  this  statement  there  were,  after  a 
time,  and  far  into  our  own  century,  some  exceptions,  but  none 
during  early  periods. 

English  interest  in  the  Great  Valley  commenced  just  before 


EAKLY  ENGLISH  EXPLORATION  IN  THE  VALLEY.     187 

the  close  of  the  seventeenth  centurj.  As  D'Iberville  returned 
from  his  lirst  exploration  of  tlie  lower  course  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  1699,  he  found  two  English  vessels  near  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  They  had  been  sent  by  William  III.,  king  of 
England,  to  take  possession  of  the  Valley  by  fortifving  the 
mouth  of  its  principal  stream.  Finding  themselves  antici- 
pated by  the  French,  they  withdrew.  About  1690  the  settle- 
ments of  Virginia  had  extended  their  outposts  to  the  foot  of 
the  Blue  Hidge,  and  begun  to  pass  over  into  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  in  the  southern  part  of  which  are  found  the  head- 
waters of  various  tributaries  of  the  Ohio;  and  they  soon 
became  anxious  to  know  what  lay  beyond.  In  1710  Governor 
Spottswood,  of  Virginia,  led  a  party  across  the  watershed,  and 
is  said  to  have  given  their  name  to  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains. Others  refer  the  name  to  Dr.  Thomas  Walker,  an 
exj^lorer  of  1747  or  1748.  The  Cherokees  had  been  visited 
by  an  English  trader  in  1690,  and  in  1730  Adair,  of  South 
Carolina,  visited  them  and  some  other  tribes.  In  the  same 
year  John  Sailing,  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  Virginia,  was 
captured  by  the  Cherokees,  and  carried  to  their  country,  was 
captured  again,  while  out  with  one  of  their  hunting  parties, 
by  the  Illinois  tribe,  liberated  by  the  French,  at  Kaskaskia, 
and  returned  home,  by  way  of  Canada,  after  an  absence  of 
six  years. 

The  publications  of  the  French  ex]>lorers,  the  above  men- 
tioned and  other  occasional  glimpses  of  English  adventurers 
and  traders,  and  the  accounts  of  the  Indians  inflamed  the 
desire  of  the  Anglo-American  public  to  penetrate  to  these, 
evidently  the  best,  lands  of  the  continent.  But  the  circum- 
stances were  long  unfavorable.  The  French  home  govern- 
ment began  to  take  an  interest  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and 
the  Canadian  authorities  took  more  and  more  pains  to  cul- 
tivate the  friendship  and  alliance  of  the  Indian  tribes  about 
the  lakes  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio.  As  the  French 
soldiers,  trappers  and  traders  were  agreeable  companions  as 


188  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

well  as  useful  allies  of  these  tribes,  and  did  not  threaten  to 
dispossess  them  of  their  hunting  grounds,  the  Indians  believed 
they  could  be  received  with  safety  as  they  were  with  pleasure. 
But  English  settlements,  whose  thrifty  and  rapid  growth  threat- 
ened to  deprive  them  of  their  lands,  were  dreaded  by  them  as 
ominous  of  evil.  The  F'rencli  took  care  to  keep  this  jealousy 
alive,  and  even  English  traders  were  unwelcome  to  them. 
Tliis,  however,  was  partly  and  gradually  overcome  by  the 
cheaper  rate  at  which  these  traders  su])plied  them  with  fire- 
arms and  trinkets,  which,  being  a  monopoly  in  Canada  and 
an  unembarrassed  trade  among  the  English,  could  be  furnished 
by  the  latter  at  a  cheaper  rate  with  the  same  profit.  Gradu- 
ally these  traders  worked  their  way  across  the  border  and 
among  the  triljes,  here  and  there.  They  were  the  first  real 
explorers  of  the  Valley  in  the  English  interest,  and,  to  some 
extent,  raised  up  a  counter  influence  against  the  French 
among  the  Indians,  particularly  in  the  south.  The  French 
had  taken  their  measures  in  the  northeast  so  wisely  that  the 
middle  of  the  century  appoached  before  traders  ventured  very 
far  west  of  the  Alleghanies. 

The  authorities  of  the  central  English  colonies  early  began 
to  take  measures  for  acquiring  Indian  titles  to  territory  in  the 
Valley.  In  ir»S4theGovernmentsof  New  York  and  Virginia 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Iroquois,  at  Albany,  in  which  they 
procured  a  deed  of  sale  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  which  these  war- 
riors rather  vaingloriously  claimed  as  theirs  by  right  of  con- 
quest. That  title  was  sought  to  be  strengtheued  l)y  another 
treaty  made  with  them,  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  in  1744. 
In  pursuance  of  this  idea,  and  in  view  of  the  conquest  of  all 
the  French  possessions  in  North  America,  soon  to  l)e  under- 
taken, the  English  home  government,  in  1749,  authorized  the 
formation  of  a  company,  to  which  it  assigned  a  large  tract  of 
land  in  the  Valley.  Tlie  gentlemen  of  Virginia  saw  in  this 
]>lan  of  interior  settlement  personal  gain  and  a  great  future 
f(ir  their  commonwealth,  and  eagerly  hastened  the  prelimin- 


^.4t,i. 


THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    WAR    IN    THE    VALLEY.  189 

ary  steps  by  holding  councils  with  the  Indians  and  commenc- 
ing explorations. 

Christopher  Gist,  the  agent  of  this  "Ohio  Company," 
Col.  Geo.  Croghan,  Indian  agent  for  the  English  Government, 
George  Washington,  then  rising  into  notice  in  the  public 
service  of  the  Colonial  Government  of  Virginia,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  Indian  traders  studied  the  Upper  Ohio  Valley  in 
the  interest  of  future  settlement.  Virginia  claimed  this 
region  by  virtue  of  her  original  charter  and  warned  off  the 
French  ;  but  the  Canadian  authorities  took  immediate  steps 
to  protect  their  claims  to  it.  The  agents  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, of  Virginia  and  of  the  Ohio  Company  had  taken 
pains  to  attach  as  many  of  the  tribes  near  the  Ohio  to  their 
interest  as  possible  ;  but  the  French  increased  their  forces, 
erected  a  line  of  forts  from  Lake  Erie  to  Pittsburgh,  captured 
a  British  trading  post  lately  established  on  the  Miami,  and 
strengthened  themselves  in  the  centra!  Valle}'. 

In  the  last  part  of  the  year  1753,  Gov.  Dinwiddle  sent  a  re- 
monstrance to  the  commander  of  the  French  forces  on  the  Ohio 
by  the  hands  of  George  Washington.  This  effort,  of  course, 
proved  a  failure  and  was  merely  a  formal  preliminary  to  the 
active  contest.  Both  parties  now  struggled  to  make  the  lirst 
point  by  getting  firm  hold  of  the  peninsula  at  the  junction 
of  the  streams  forming  the  Ohio — now  Pittsburgh.  The 
French  succeeded  and  held  the  place  with  so  sti-ong  a  force 
that  Washington,  who  returned  in  the  spring  of  1754,  at  the 
head  of  400  men,  was  too  weak  to  drive  them  out,  was  attacked 
in  his  intrenchments,  and  obliged  to  caj^itulate.  This  was 
followed  in  the  next  year  by  an  expedition  under  General 
Braddock,  of  the  British  army,  which,  for  the  frontier,  was 
large  and  well  appointed  and  strong  enough  to  overwhelm 
the  French.  But  Braddock,  unacquainted  with  Indian  war- 
fare, and  too  obstinate  to  take  counsel,  was  ambuscaded  before 
lie  reached  the  fort  and  his  armv  defeated  with  great  slauErhter 
— about  800  being  killed  and  wounded.      He  was   himself 


190  THE  Missipsirri  valley. 

fatally  wounded  and  died  four  days  afterward.  This  memora- 
ble defeat  occurred  June  19,  1755.  The  French  remained  in 
undisturbed  possession  of  the  up})er  Valley  for  several  vears, 
while  the  two  nations  contended  around  Lakes  Ontario  and 
Champlain  and  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  for  the 
mastery  of  America.  The  English  were  at  length  successful 
and  all  the  territory  claimed  by  the  French  east  of  the 
Mississippi  passed,  by  a  general  capitulation,  iuto  English 
bands. 


CHAPTEE    V. 
THE  Indian's  defense  of  his  hunting  grounds  against  the 

FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH. 

The  relations  of  the  French  and  tlie  Indians  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  had  been  extended  and  maintained  by  the 
missionary  zeal  of  the  Jesuits.  The  arrogance  of  the  noble 
officer  as  well  as  the  rudeness  ot  the  common  soldier  had 
been  toned  down  to  general  courtesy,  partly  by  this  influence, 
partly  by  the  native  politeness  and  pliancy  of  the  race,  and 
also  by  the  pressing  need  of  Indian  allies.  The  English  set- 
tlements south  of  tliem  were  politically  their  rivals  and  often 
their  enemies  by  frequent  wai's  between  the  two  mother  coun- 
tries ;  and  a  bottomless  gult  of  religious  difference  separated 
them  in  sympathy.  Antagonism  in  almost  every  direction 
seemed  to  make  them  mortal  foes  even  in  formal  peace. 
Canada  was  always  weak  in  numbers  and  poor  in  resources 
compared  with  the  vigorous  and  ])rosperous  colonies  from 
England.  The  Canadian  rulers,  therefore,  with  mucli  pains 
and  skill,  cultivated  the  friendship  of  the  Indians.  The  Iro- 
quois alone,  long  resisted  their  arts  and  their  arms. 

But  circumstances  were  changed  in  the  southern  Valley 
when,  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
French  took  possession  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and 
built  up  considerable  settlements  as  compared  with  those  of 
Canada  a  hundred  years  before.  Communication  with  France 
was  more  constant,  a  commercial  spirit  and  political  ambition 
had  taken  the  place  of  ipissionary  zeal,  and  the  corruption 
and  intrigue  which  were  becoming  so  prevalent  at  the  French 
court  affected  the  morals  of  the  colony.  The  officials  ceased 
to  feel  dependent  on  Indian  good  will  and  sometimes  treated 
them   with   contemptuous    injustice.      This    was    the   more 

191 


192  THE    MISSISSIl'l'I    VALLKY. 

impolitic  tluit  the  tribes  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  were 
almost  as  tierce  and  warlike  as  tlie  Iroquois,  and  Englisli 
traders  from  the  Atlantic  coast  passed  among  them,  courted 
their  good  will  and  souglit  to  weaken  French  influence  over 
them,  aiding  them  with  advice  and  assistance  when  attacked. 
The  English  settlements  were  distant  and  they  had  not  begun 
to  fear  them,  while  the  French  were  near  and  in  danger  of 
becoming  formidable. 

There  were  P^-ench  settlements  among  the  Natchez  on  the 
bank  of  the  river  ;  that  tribe  grew  jealous  and  discontented, 
and  secretly  concerted  a  rising  with  other  tribes  to  expel 
them.  This  outbreak  was  liastened  by  the  imprudent  effront- 
ery of  the  commander  of  the  French  post,  who  required  the 
Natchez  to  remove  their  principal  \'illage  because  he  wanted 
to  occupy  its  site.  The  indignant  tribe  made  all  their  arrange- 
ments in  the  most  complete  privacy,  suddenly  fell  on  the 
French,  Nov.  29,  1729,  and  massacred  two  hundred  in  a  day. 
The  colony  was  strong  enough  to  avenge  it,  which  was  accom- 
plished with  a  severity  and  barbarity  worthy  of  De  Soto  or  of 
tlie  Indians  themselves.  Hundreds  were  slain  and  their 
venerated  chief  Sun,  with  400  of  his  followers,  captured  and 
sold  in  St.  Domingo  as  slaves.  The  tribe  was  broken  up  and 
scattered  among  the  neighboring  Indian  communities.  A 
remnant  that  still  held  together  in  the  wilds  of  Arkansas  was 
no  sooner  discovered  than  it  was  attacked  and  massacred. 

This  was  a  very  different  policy  from  that  which  had 
secured  the  good  will  and  aid  of  tlie  tribes  of  Canada  and 
the  West  in  the  previous  century  and  the  French  suffered 
much  from  it.  The  Chickasaws  never  contracted  a  solid 
peace  with  them,  and  their  hostility  rendered  the  passage  of 
the  river,  whose  eastern  bank  above  Natchez  they  held,  unsafe. 
Though  awed,  perhaps,  by  the  fate  of  the  Natchez,  they  were 
strong  in  numbers  and  resolution  and  obtained  arms,  ammu- 
nition and  other  conveniences  from  the  English  traders.  The 
settlement  of  Georgia,  about  this  time,  by  Gen.  Oglethorpe, 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WARS    IN    THE    SOUTH.  193 

made  Savannah  a  more  convenient  depot  of  supplies  than 
had  before  existed,  and  the  unfortunate  French  policy,  which 
alienated  the  tribes,  rendered  them  more  amenable  to  English 
influence. 

The  French  undertook  to  chastise  the  Chickasaws  and  dis- 
perse the  dangers  which  threatened  the  passage  of  the  river 
from  New  Orleans  to  Illinois.  After  long  pre^iaration  one 
expedition  from  New  Orleans  ami  another  from  Illinois 
marched  against  them.  These  expeditions  failed  to  act  in 
concert,  the  Illinois  troops  were  disastrously  routed,  and 
the  Chickasaws  intrenched  themselves  against  Bienville  who 
led  the  force  from  below.  Assisted  by  English  traders,  they 
resisted  all  Bienville's  efforts  and  he  retired  discomfited, 
leaving  the  Indians  triumphant  and  French  prestige  tarnished. 
Three  years  later,  Bienville  gathered  a  force  of  1,200  French 
troops  and  2,000  Indian  allies  and  again  advanced  against  the 
Chickasaws.  These  wily  Indians  now  sued  for  peace  which 
the  French  general,  who  made  a  long  stop  in  the  region  of 
Memphis,  and  whose  troops  were  much  weakened  by  sickness 
in  that  unhealthy  climate,  gladly  granted,  and  he  withdrew 
with  no  efltective  security  against  further  hostility.  The 
Indians  were  still  masters  of  the  situation.  In  1752,  thej' 
formed  an  alliance,  by  treaty,  with  the  English,  who  were 
preparing  for  the  reduction  of  Canada.  De  Vaudreuil,  then 
the  French  governor  of  Louisiana,  undertook  to  chastise  them 
by  the  destruction  of  their  towns,  but  failed  in  the  attempt 
and  was  obliged  to  retreat. 

The  English  repeated  in  the  Gulf  States  tlie  policy  of  the 
French  in  Canada  and  Illinois — sought  the  alliance  of  the 
Indians  and  treated  them  with  consideration.  As  they  did 
not  yet  undertake  to  make  settlements  very  far  from  the 
Atlantic  coast,  and  were  known  chiefly  by  their  flattering 
speeches  and  the  advantages  their  trade  conferred  on  the 
tribes,  they  were  as  successful  as  had  been  the  French  in  the 
North.  French  and  English  i:)olicies  were  here  reversed. 
IS 


194  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

English  traders  often  established  themselves  among  them, 
took  Indian  wives  and  adopted  their  manner  of  life.  The  son 
of  a  Scotch  trader  by  an  Indian  wife  became,  in  after  years, 
an  educated,  able  and  powerful  chief  among  the  Creeks.  The 
influence  thus  acquired  by  friendly  intercourse  and  conformity 
to  Indian  habits  was  exerted  against  the  French,  tlK)ugh  not 
in  open  warfare  except  in  the  case  of  the  Chickasaws,  and 
French  and  English  agents  and  traders  competed  near  the 
Gulf  for  the  favor  and  peltry  of  the  red  man.  The  cheap- 
ness of  Englisli  goods,  which  were  subject  to  the  embarrass- 
ment of  no  monopoly,  and  the  vigor  with  which  the  English- 
man was  accustomed  to  perform  every  task  he  undertook,  gave 
him  the  advantage  over  the  French,  who  never  acquired 
much  influence  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  lower  Valley,  and 
were  not  strong  enough  to  make  a  diversion  in  favor  of 
Canada  when  the  Englisli  Government  seriously  undertook 
to  conquer  it. 

Yet,  in  Illinois  and  about  the  Great  Lakes,  the  tribes  were 
strongly  attached  to  the  French.  Though  less  courted  and 
flattered  than  formerly,  and  more  attracted  to  the  English  by 
better  terms  of  trade,  they  were  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  it 
would  be  a  great  advantage  to  them,  as  the  Iroquois  had  dis- 
covered, a  hundred  and  thirty  years  before,  to  have  two  nations 
of  Europeans  among  them  who  were  rivals  for  their  favor. 
They  knew  something  of  the  strong  development  of  the  cen- 
tral English  colonies,  and  dreaded  to  have  the  French  with- 
draw, beginning  already  to  feel  a  dim  presentiment  of  their 
fate.  The  moi-e  sagacious  of  the  red  race  were  deeply  afflicted 
when,  in  1763,  the  treaty  of  peace,  which  followed  the  capitu- 
lation of  the  French  in  Canada,  ceded  the  whole  of  the  east- 
ern Valley,  including  tlie  regions  of  the  lakes  and  the  posts 
on  the  Ohio,  to  the  English. 

Pontiac,  a  chief  of  the  Ottawas,  had  his  home  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Detroit.  "Wlien  that  post  was  delivered  up  to  the 
English  he  was  about  fifty  years  old — in  the  full  maturity  of 


THE    PRELUDE    TO    PONTIAC's   WAE.  195 

powers  wliicli  showed  tliat  individual  talent  is  of  no  race  or 
condition.  His  own  and  otlier  tribes  from  near  the  lakes  had 
given  ready  assistance  to  the  French,  and  chiefly  contributed 
to  Braddock's  defeat.  Hegretfully  he  had  seen  that  victorv 
neutralized  when,  November  2-t,  1758,  an  English  army, 
better  led,  in  which  George  Washington  had  an  important 
command,  approached  Fort  Duq^iesne,  which  his  people  had 
defended,  and  which  the  now  feeble  garrison,  insuflicient  in 
numbers  to  hold,  set  on  fire  and  abandoned.  0  ne  by  one  the 
posts  on  the  Ohio  had  fallen  into  English  hands. 

Immediately  after  this  the  theft  of  some  horses,  by  Chero- 
kee warriors  returning  from  the  English  army,  which  they 
had  accompanied  as  allies  to  the  attack  of  Fort  Duquesne, 
was  severely  retaliated  by  the  settlers  who  had  suflered  the 
loss,  who  killed  fourteen  of  the  lawless  Cherokees.  The  nation, 
infuriated  by  this  bloody  deed,  and  glad  of  an  excuse  for  attack 
on  intrudei's  into  their  neighborhood,  immediately  commenced 
a  desolating  war  on  the  scattered  settlei's  who  had  lately  built 
their  cabins  under  the  eastern  shadow  of  the  mountains. 
Fort  Loudon  had  been  built,  about  1756,  in  the  Cherokee 
country.  The  people  settled  near  it,  or  straggling  from  it, 
were  butchered,  and  the  Fort  beseiged.  A  force  sent  to  the 
relief  of  the  garrison  was  so  roughly  treated  in  the  battle  of 
the  Etchowee,  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Little  Tennessee,  that 
it  retreated,  leaving  the  Fort  to  its  fate.  The  famished  garri- 
son capitulated,  but  were  attacked  after  lea\-ing  the  Fort  to 
return  to  the  colonies,  and  many  of  them  killed  while  the  rest 
were  held  captive.  In  the  next  year  Col.  Grant,  of  the  Brit- 
ish army,  led  a  sti'ong  force  into  the  Cherokee  country,  defeated 
the  Indians  in  an  obstinate  battle,  laid  waste  their  fields  and 
destroyed  their  towns.  This  severe  vengeance,  the  surveys 
that  foreboded  English  settlement,  and  the  fatal  certainty  with 
which  settlements  spread  when  commenced,  filled  Pontiac  with 
alarm  for  his  race. 

He  was  a  truly  royal  savage,  endowed  with  all  the  qualities 


196  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

wliich  secure  influence  to  an  Indian  chief.  His  name  was 
kuDwn  and  revered  by  every  Wild  Hunter  from  the  Missis- 
sippi to  New  York,  and  from  Hudson's  Bay  to  Georgia.  Pon- 
tiac  first  came  into  personal  relations  with  the  English  on  the 
delivery  of  Detroit  to  them  by  the  French.  He  approached 
and  studied  thein  with  the  skill  and  penetration  of  a  trained 
diplomatist,  and  at  once  saw  the  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween them  and  the  French,  with  whom  he  had  been  f.imiliar. 
French  aims  were  lai-ge  and  vague,  did  not  threaten  speedy 
dispossession  of  the  Indian,  and  French  courtesy  easily  avoided 
a  too  offensive  expression  of  disgust  at  habits  displeasing  to  the 
civilized  man.  The  French  peasantry,  to  whom  few  sources 
of  gain  were  open,  quietly  cultivated  a  little  patch  of  soil, 
showed  little  enterprise  or  ambition  in  those  days,  took  life 
easily  and  were  cordially  friendly  with  the  Indians,  with  whom 
they  often  hunted,  trapped  and  fought. 

The  Anglo-American  was  a  man  of  business,  founding  a 
home  and  a  future  for  himself,  and  not  unmindful  of  the 
future  of  his  race — indeed,  beginning  seriously  to  think  and 
act  for  the  welfare  of  his  adopted  country.  Order,  industry 
and  security  were  inseparable  from  the  thought  of  the  aver- 
age Anglo-Saxon.  He  represented  the  energetic,  thoughtful, 
personal  thrift  that  was  soon  to  become  the  characteristic  of 
a  new  and  higher  form  of  civilization.  Indian  virtues  and 
Indian  vices  were  expressed  in  a  form  highly  repellant  to 
him.  The  Teutonic  races  are  distinguished  for  energy  and 
directness.  They  wanted,  in  America,  the  smooth  and  con- 
ciliating exterior  of  the  French,  and  did  not  very  much  restrain 
their  disgust  at  Indian  vanity,  brutality,  and  the  want  of  self- 
respect  that  permitted  drunkenness  and  beggary  without 
shame.  But  the  Indian  had  a  rude  sense  of  self-respect  and 
of  justice,  which  the  English  did  not  comprehend  or  regard. 

If  the  Englishman  and  the  Anglo-American  stood  at  the 
head  of  a  deeper,  broader,  and  more  important  phase  of  civil- 
ization in  the  eighteenth  century  than  the  Frenchman  of  the 


PONTIAC    COMMENCES   THE   WAR    AT    DETROIT.  197 

seventeenth,  it  was  still  in  the  rough,  and  would  take  long  to 
reach  its  highest  expression,  as  sketched  in  the  opening  of 
the  "Declaration  "  of  1776,  which  is  still  only  partially  put 
in  practice.  The  Indian  was  elbowed  aside,  and  his  weaknesses 
and  vices  treated  with  unconcealed  contempt.  His  violation 
of  treaties  which  he  had  not  understood,  the  injustice  of  which 
he  too  late  comprehended,  was  visited  with  severe  punishment 
by  the  sword,  and  still  severer  punishment  in  ejectment 
from  his  hunting  grounds.  The  Indian  constantly  felt  liimself 
humiliated  and  swindled,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  border 
who  were  in  contact  with  him,  and  liable  to  receive  the  full 
bloody  consequences  of  his  resentment,  could  feel  no  sym- 
pathy for  his  character  and  habits,  and  considered  the  sever- 
est treatment  of  him  only  just. 

Pontiac  completely  represented  his  race  in  their  sympathies 
and  antipathies;  his  great,  though  untaught,  intelligence  ena- 
bled him  to  see  all  the  danger  to  the  Indian  of  an  advance  oi 
the  English  westward,  while  his  experience  was  too  limited  to 
see  how  hopeless  would  be  the  attempt  at  resistance.  He 
determined  to  organize  the  tribes,  expel  or  destroy  the  hated 
invaders,  and  defend  the  West  from  them.  His  influence  was 
all  powerful  with  most  of  the  tribes,  and  he  arranged  the 
details  of  a  rising  and  plans  for  the  simultaneous  capture  of 
all  the  forts.  On  the  7th  of  May,  1763,  he  attempted,  in 
person,  to  surprise  the  post  at  Detroit.  His  plan  was  betrayed 
and  Major  Gladwin,  the  commander,  was  prepared  to  meet  it. 
All  the  other  posts  were  attacked,  some  eight  or  ten  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  in  most  cases  with  circum- 
stances of  sickening  barbarity.  Having  failed  to  surprise 
Detroit,  Pontiac  laid  siege  to  it.  Contrary  to  all  the  habits 
of  the  Indians,  it  was  beleagured  seven  months — from  early 
May  until  November.  Fort  Pitt  was  attacked,  and  a  bloody 
battle  fought  with  a  force  marching  to  its  relief. 

Detroit   and    Fort    Pitt,   however,    both   held   out.      The 
resources,  discipline  and  skill  of  the  white  man  triumphed 


198  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

over  the  sudden  I'usli  and  unexpected  persistence  of  the  tribes. 
The  Senecas,  of  New  York,  one  of  the  "  nations  "  of  the  Iro- 
quois confederacy,  joined  their  efforts  to  those  of  Pontiac,  and 
hundreds  of  Englisli  traders  and  scattered  settlers  of  the  fron- 
tier, even  east  of  the  mountains,  were  butchered.  Terror  and 
confusion  reigned  along  the  whole  border;  for  even  the  Creeks 
of  Georgia  laid  aside  the  "  Peace  Pipe  "  and  entered  on  the 
work  of  slaughter. 

Consternation  prevailed  in  the  councils  of  the  colonies, 
especially  from  Pennsylvania  southward.  If  the  rising  under 
Pontiac  should  be  successful,  a  cordon  of  fire  would  be  drawn 
around  the  settlements,  from  the  St.  Lawi-ence  to  Georgia,  for 
not  an  Indian  heart  beat  on  the  continent  that  was  not,  at 
bottom,  hostile  to  the  English  and  alarmed  at  the  display  of 
strength  which  had  expelled  the  French,  whom  the  most  of 
them  loved  so  well.  Two  expeditions  were  prejjared.  One, 
under  Col.  Bradstreet,  passed  by  way  of  Oswego  and  Niagara 
to  Detroit;  the  other,  under  Col.  Bouquet,  pressed  through 
from  Eastern  Pennsylvania  to  Fort  Pitt  and  penetrated  to 
the  heart  of  the  Indian  country  in  Ohio. 

But  before  the  spring  had  fairly  opened  it  became  apparent 
to  Pontiac  that  the  task  he  had  undertaken  was  beyond  his 
power.  The  Indians  were  too  scattered  and  possessed  too 
few  resources  of  support  to  act  together  in  large  numbers,  for 
any  considerable  length  of  time.  They  had  been  able  to 
maintain  the  siege  of  Detroit  by  the  supj^lies  pressed  from 
the  French  inhabitants  settled  about  it,  and  the  wide  range  of 
forest,  lake  and  river  in  its  vicinity.  But  that  was  an 
exceptional  case,  they  had  failed  there,  trade  was  stopped, 
and  they  had  long  been  accustomed  to  rely  on  the  whites 
for  arms,  powder  and  ball  for  their  own  hunts  and  wars. 
They  were,  to  crown  all,  incapable  of  a  compact  continu- 
ous union,  even  under  a  Pontiac.  They  were  discouraged 
by  the  failure  to  get  possession  at  once  of  the  critical  points, 
Detroit   and  Fort  Pitt.     The  first  heat  of  hope  and  passion 


THE    FAILURE    OF    PONTIAC's    HOPES.  199 

was  past ;  they  could  not  now  spare  the  whites,  nor  con- 
quer them.  Pontiac  could  no  longer  inspire  them  with  the 
fire  and  fervor  of  the  last  year.  They  were  ready  on  the  first 
favorable  occasion  to  treat  for  peace — with  rage  and  despair, 
indeed,  but  they  must  have  supplies  ;  they  must  welcome  the 
English  traders  ;  they  must  make  a  present  submission  or 
they  would  be  crushed  by  the  powerful  armies  of  the  whites 
and  the  miserable  remnants  of  their  tribes  would  be  driven 
from  their  lands.  Therefore  no  resistance  was  oifered  to  the 
expeditions  of  this  year  (1764).  Treaties  were  made  by  the 
two  commanders  and  by  Sir  William  Johnson  with  the 
more  northern  and  eastern  tribes,  the  captives  were  given  up, 
military  posts  re-established,  and  trade  revived. 

Pontiac's  only  hope  was  now  in  the  tribes  of  the  West  and 
in  the  French,  who  still  held  possession  of  the  west  bank  of 
the  Mississippi.  During  the  next  year,  1765,  he  exerted  all 
his  influence  to  get  aid  from  them  and  to  combine  the  prairie 
tribes,  but  in  vain.  The  French  were  just  turning  over  their 
forts  and  settlements  to  the  Spaniards.  Finding  his  cause 
hopeless  the  great  chieftain  accepted  the  inevitable  fate  of  his 
race,  went  in  person,  in  1766,  to  Oswego,  where  envoys  of  all 
the  tribes  met  Sir  William  Johnson,  and  concluded  a  treaty 
of  peace.  In  1769  he  was  murdered  at  Cahokia  by  an  Illi- 
nois Indian,  who,  it  is  said,  was  hired  to  do  the  foul  deed  by 
an  English  trader.  The  whole  nation  of  the  Illinois  was  held 
responsible  for  it  by  the  other  Western  tribes  and  were,  soon 
after,  almost  exterminated  by  them,  only  a  miserable  remnant 
being  left. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    INDIANS   MAKE    WAE    ON    THE    AMERICAN    PIONEERS. 

The  southeiTi  Valley  was  divided  with  considerable  definite- 
ness  between  the  tribes  resident  there.  The  Chickasaws  and 
Choctaws  held  the  east  bank  of  the  River,  the  Creeks,  or 
Miiskogees,  southern  Georgia  and  Alabama,  and  the  Cherokees 
the  upper  Tennessee  and  the  mountainous  region  southeast  of 
it.  If  changes  had  taken  place  in  modern  days  it  had  been  an 
unknown  length  of  time  before.  They  had  a  recognized 
title  to  their  lands.  Kentucky,  "the  dark  and  bloody 
ground,"  in  the  thought  of  the  Indian,  was  a  Debatable 
Land,  a  common  hunting  gnumd,  to  which  all  loved  to  lay 
claim,  and  in  which  none  had  the  hardihood  to  take  up 
their  residence  and  build  their  towns.  They  would  have  been 
the  common  prey  of  the  warlike  tribes  north  and  south 
and  could  not  hope  to  escape  speedy  annihilation.  The 
Iroquois  confederacy  claimed  a  title  to  it  because  their  war 
parties  had  sometimes  safe!}'  crossed  it  in  stealthy  expedi- 
tions against  the  southern  tribes  and  returned  victorious  to 
chant  their  own  prowess  at  Onondaga  Castle. 

The  Cherokees  claimed  it,  for  they  had  often  beaten  their 
enemies  under  its  pleasant  woods,  or  marched  to  the  Ohio 
and  surprised  them  at  the  "  Licks,"  or  salt  springs.  With 
equal  right  could  the  tribes  north  of  the  Ohio  claim  it,  for 
none  more  often  hunted  in  it  or  more  frequently  achieved  the 
joy  of  the  Indian's  heart — a  stealthy  swoop  across  the  river  on  a 
party  of  their  foes  and  a  rapid  retreat  to  the  safety  of  their 
own  towns  far  in  tlie  interior,  triumphantly  displaying  gory 
scalp  locks  on  their  spears,  or  at  their  belts.  But  these  north- 
ern tribes  had  only  the  claim  of  present  occupation  to  the 
lands   where    they    built    their    to\\'ns.     The    Shawnees   had 

200 


TITLES    TO    THE    NOKTHEASTEEN    VALLEY.  201 

withdrawn  there  tVoin  the  south  to  escape  the  vengeance  of 
the  Chickasaws  and  Cherokees  ;  the  Delawares  were  fugitives 
from  regions  far  to  the  east;  and  others  were  modern  comers 
from  the  west  or  north,  who  dwelt  in  safety  because  the  Iro- 
quois had  lately  been  too  busy  fighting  the  French  and  nego- 
tiating with  the  English  to  find  time  to  destroy  them  or 
drive  them  away.  Even  the  distant  Illinois  trembled  between 
the  tribes  of  the  Dakotah  on  the  west  and  the  Iroquois 
nations  in  the  east. 

The  haughty  confederacy  of  central  New  York  assumed  to 
own  the  third  part  of  a  continent  through  the  terror  of  their 
arms  and  their  bloody  deeds,  and  lorded  it  over  many  tribes; 
but  they  never  actually  occupied  the  Valley  proper.  Their 
claim  was  several  times  secured  by  treaty,  and  the  English 
Indian  agents  and  colonial  authorities  bought  up  various 
rights  from  occupants  or  claimants,  for  comparatively  trifling 
sums,  given  as  presents  to  the  chiefs,  who  were  assumed  to 
have  the  power  of  sale  and  transfer.  The  chiefs,  however, 
had  no  more  control  over  tribal  lands  than  any  other  member 
of  their  communities,  except  as  they  might  have  more  influ- 
ence over  their  sturdily  republican  subjects.  If  the  tribe  retused 
to  ratify  the  engagements  they  had  made  the  transaction  was 
null  and  void,  according  to  Indian  usage.  Thus,  treaties  and 
purchases  of  territory  were  often  illusory;  not  understood  by 
the  tribes  as  a  final  alienation  of  their  lands,  or,  if  consented 
to  by  these  unpractical,  grown-up  children,  the  arrangement 
was  repudiated  when  they  had  changed  their  minds.  In  1768 
Sir  "William  Jolinson,  as  commissioner  for  the  British  Govern- 
ment, bought,  for  fifty-two  thousand  dollars  and  some  pi-esents 
to  the  chiefs,  a  large  territory  south  of  the  O  liio  River  and  on 
its  branches,  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  from  the  Iro- 
quois, the  Delawares,  Shawnees,  Mingoes  and  others  who  had 
real  or  pretended  claims.  This  did  not  prevent  Indian  out- 
breaks, Indian  hunting  on  the  ceded  grounds,  and  constant 
hostility  toward  the  inflowing  explorers  and  settlers. 


202  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

Tlie  Indians  had  very  indefinite  notions  of  such  transactions, 
and  only  respected  them  so  long  as  the  impossibility  of  doing 
without  traders  and  the  conveniences  of  civilized  life,  which 
had  replaced  their  primitive  manufactures,  was  severely  felt, 
and  the  fear  of  punishment  was  strong  on  them.  Their  bands 
of  warriors  had  always  been  in  the  habit  of  roving  at  will; 
the  individuals  of  the  tribes  did  not  easily  conceive  a  binding 
force  in  their  consent  to  a  sale  of  lands  such  that  they  could 
not  still  roam  over  them  and  surprise  any  party  interfering 
with  their  hunt,  and  often  they  had  given  no  such  consent. 
Their  chiefs  had  pretended  to  bind  them,  but  they  recognized 
no  such  power  in  the  chief.  Tlie  forms  of  purchase  satisfied 
the  sense  of  justice  of  the  whites,  no  matter  how  sharp  the 
bargain  or  how  small  the  consideration ;  but  the  Indian  was 
unable  to  see  it  in  the  same  light,  or  to  feel  the  continuous 
and  unalterable  nature  of  the  agreement.  To  this  he  could 
be  brought  only  when  he  became  civilized,  drew  his  support 
from  the  cultivated  products  of  the  earth,  and  looked  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  thrifty  husbandman  rather  than  that 
of  the  roving  hunter.  The  antagonism  of  interests  and  desires 
was  almost  complete.  The  French  got  over  it  in  the  readiest 
way  by  making  themselves  acceptable  to  the  red  man.  Anglo- 
American  industry,  and  the  vigorous  spread  of,  and  require- 
ments of  space  for,  settlements,  as  well  as  the  less  flexible 
character  of  that  people,  rendered  the  same  degree  of  success 
impossible  to  them  when  attempted,  as  it  sometimes  was. 

A  government  policy  was  followed,  by  both  home  and  colo- 
nial authorities,  aiming  to  restrain  imjjosition  and  irregulari- 
ties by  individuals  and  companies  in  their  dealings  with  the 
natives.  Private  contracts  and  purchases,  whereby  lands 
were  alienated  from  the  Indians,  were  forbidden.  Titles  could 
be  valid  onl}-  on  tracts  purchased  by  government,  and  settle- 
ments outside  these  were  declared  unlawful.  Such  laws  were 
not  always  regarded,  and  their  violation  was  a  fruitful  source 
of  Indian  war.     Before  and  immediately  after  the  French  war, 


ENGLISH    AWD   COLONIAL    POLICY    IN    THE    WEST.  203 

the  British  Government  favored  the  eager  desire  of  the  colo- 
nists to  secure  lands  and  commence  settlements  west  of  the 
mountains  ;  but  the  discontent  of  the  tribes,  as  shown  in 
Pontiac's  war,  the  commencing  troubles  between  the  colonies 
on  the  Atlantic  and  the  Home  Government,  and  other  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  government  of  Canada,  now  in 
their  hands,  induced  a  change.  The  authorities  of  the  colo- 
nies were  forbidden  to  grant  lands  or  authorize  settlement 
beyond  the  headwaters  of  the  streams  falling  into  the  Atlan- 
tic. Pontiac's  principle  was  to  be,  in  substance,  adopted  and 
the  tribes  were  to  be  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the 
eastern  Valley.  The  French  policy  of  conciliation  and  gen- 
tleness was  more  fully  adopted. 

"When  war  with  the  colonies  actually  broke  out,  the  British 
Government,  determined  to  subdue  the  colonies  at  any  cost, 
sought  the  alliance  and  aid  of  the  tribes  north  and  south, /ur- 
nished  them  with  warlike  stores  and  organized  their  expedi- 
tions against  the  settlements  of  the  border.  Had  Pontiac 
been  alive  he  would  have  seen  his  desire  realized,  and  it  would 
have  gone  hard  with  the  settlers  of  Western  Pennsylvania. 
Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  for  the  irresistible  tide 
had  began  to  flow  in  spite  of  the  commands  of  the  British 
Government.  Pontiac's  war  had  made  the  people  of  the 
border  still  more  familiar  with  the  inviting  features  of  the 
agricultural  Valley;  discontent  with  the  colonial  policy  of 
England  begot  many  troubles  along  the  coast,  and  the  rough 
mountain  regions  were  not  attractive  after  a  glimpse  of  the 
charming  and  fruitful  territoiy  beyond. 

In  1753  an  American  settlement  of  eleven  families  was 
made  on  the  Youghiogheny,  on  the  Valley  side  of  the  water- 
shed of  the  AUeghanies,  while  yet  the  French  held  possession 
of  the  great  rivers.  After  the  occu])ation  of  Pittsburgh  set- 
tlement began  north  and  sAith  on  the  more  eastern  branches 
of  the  O  hio.  Pontiac's  war  mostly  extinguished  these  in  blood, 
but,  a  general  pacification  having  quelled  Indian  animosity 


204  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLET. 

for  the  time,  they  were  re-occupied  by  the  courageous  frontiers- 
men, and  the  oncoming  tide  of  a  most  fruitful  civilization  was 
announced  by  the  gradual  filtering  through  tlie  mountains, 
from  above  Pittsburgh  to  the  upper  Tennessee,  of  some  iiuu- 
dreds  of  families.  Among  these  there  could  not  fail  to  be 
some  both  rash  and  abandoned  characters,  whose  careless  or 
criminal  violence  would  furnish  the  spark  required  to  cause 
the  smouldering  wrath  of  the  Indian  to  Ijurst  into  flame.  A 
misdeed  of  the  Indians  below  Pittsburgh  was  retaliated  by  a 
party  of  whites  with  blind  fury,  and  among  the  innocent  vic- 
tims was  the  entire  family  of  Logan,  a  Mingo  chief,  friendly 
to  the  -whites.  A  violent  war  broke  out  at  once.  An  army 
sent  by  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  Lord  Dunmore,  to  subdue 
the  Indians  foueht  a  battle  with  them  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Kenhawa,  October  10,  1774.  The  Indians  fought  with 
obstinate  resolution,  and  the  battle  lasted  the  whole  day — • 
seventy-five  whites  being  killed  and  one  hundred  and  foi'ty 
wounded.  Logan  fully  glutted  his  vengeance  for  the  slaugh- 
ter of  his  family.  The  Indians  were  at  length  beaten  and 
retreated  over  the  Ohio. 

The  wise  and  eloquent  Logan  sued  for  peace  for  his  people 
in  a  memorable  speech,  preserved  by  Jefferson,  which  gives 
tine  expression  to  one  side  of  the  Indian  character.  But  far 
more  trying  than  bloody  battles  to  the  settlers  wei'e  the  sud- 
den attacks  of  small  bands  of  enraged  Indians  on  explorers 
and  families,  in  which  women  and  children  were  pitilessly 
slaughtered.  Nothing  would  appear  better  calculated  to 
intimidate  and  restrain  the  wave  of  settlement,  and  yet  it 
seemed  to  arouse  hardihood  and  courage  instead  of  awaken- 
ing fear.  Although  a  formal  peace  was  made  many  times, 
the  conflict  was  really  continuous  from  1774  to  1795;  and  jct, 
during  this  period,  the  numbers  of  the  settlers  were  increased 
by  more  than  1.50,000  in  Tennessee,  Kentuck}',  Ohio,  and  the 
parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  adjacent.  The  possibility 
of  having  to  endure  the  most  dreadful  forms  of  suftering  and 


THE    RESOLUTE    COtJEAGE    OF    EARLY    SETTLERS.  205 

death  seemed  to  have  no  power  to  terrify  these  courageous 
men  and  intrepid  women.  No  signs  of  quailing  or  retreating 
were  shown.  They  floated  down  the  river  in  flat  boats  with 
wives,  children  and  all  the  property  they  possessed,  liable  at 
every  turn  to  be  ambushed  and  fired  on  from  the  shore.  Indi- 
viduals wandered,  often  alone,  through  the  forests,  hutiting, 
exploring,  or  passing  from  settlejnent  to  settlement.  They 
gathered — a  few  families  at  most — within  a  stockade  fort  lia- 
ble to  be  at  any  moment  attacked.  More  courage  and  resolu- 
tion could  not  well  be  displayed. 

The  contest  was  very  obstinate  and  very  bloody  during  the 
Revolutionary  War.  The  British,  from  the  posts  at  Detroit, 
near  Lake  Erie  and  in  the  "  Illinois  Country,"  distributed 
the  "  sinews  of  war"  to  the  tribes.  British  agents  stirred  up 
their  animosity,  organized,  and  sometimes  led,  expeditions 
against  the  feeble  settlements  south  of  the  river;  and  in  the 
south  stimulated  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  to  slaughter. 
The  Indians  were  only  too  ready.  In  1776,  the  settlers  of 
Tennessee  fought  two  desperate  but  successful  battles  with 
the  Cherokees  which  kept  them  quiet  for  a  time.  The  Ohio 
tribes  hovered  around  the  settlements  in  Kentucky  until  they 
could  safely  strike  a  quick,  sure  blow,  or  capture  a  straggler, 
then  swiftly  fled  across  the  river.  Sometimes  they  laid  siege 
to  the  block-houses  and  forts;  sometimes  bloody  battles  were 
fought.  The  Indians  found  a  people  "  worthy  of  their  steel  " 
and  even  more  resolute,  fearless  and  capable  than  themselves. 
But  hundreds  were  cut  off",  many  promising  homes  were  laid 
waste,  the  women  and  children  barbarously  murdered.  The 
wild  hunter  fought  well  for  his  race  and  his  hunting  grounds 
against  the  intruding  civilization  he  abhorred 

But  he  did  not  always  find  himself  safe  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river  though  his  towns  were  some  days'  journey  in  the 
interior.  Frequent  expeditions  of  the  settlers  penetrated  to 
them  and  inflicted  severe  retaliation.  Nor  were  the  posts 
of  the  British,  though  distant  hundreds  of  miles  from  the 


206  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY, 

settlements,  secure  from  attack.  After  considerable  persist- 
ence, Gen.  (then  Col.)  George  Rogers  Clarke,  a  truly  repre- 
sentative pioneer  of  Kentucky,  obtained  authority  from  Pat- 
rick Henry,  Governor  of  Virginia,  to  organize  an  expedition 
against  the  British  posts  in  "  the  Illinois."  lie  collected  a 
small  troop  at  Pittsburgh  and  gathered  the  rest  from  the 
new  and  constantly  threatened  settlements  in  Kentucky. 
Notwithstanding  the  serious  danger  to  their  homes,  they 
answered  the  call.  Clarke  made  a  forced  march  through  the 
forests,  captured  all  the  posts  by  surprise  or  artifice,  deprived 
the'  British  of  their  prestige  and  stores  for  the  Indians,  and 
secured  the  rear  of  the  settlements  in  that  direction.  Thus 
no  small  share  of  work  was  done  by  these  pioneers  in  aiding 
to  secure  American  Independence. 

But  the  Ohio  and  Indiana  tribes  were  determined  to  hold 
their  lands,  and  still  maintained  the  contest  with  great  perti- 
nacity. When  the  war  closed,  the  British  still  remained  many 
years  at  Detroit  and  gave  them  more  or  less  encouragement. 
The  settlers  suffered  some  bloody  defeats,  and  the  more  they 
increased  the  more  determined  became  the  Indian  attack. 
From  1782  to  1789  it  was  computed  that  2,000  horses  were 
stolen  by  the  Indians,  1,500  persons  killed  or  captured  and 
$60,000  worth  of  property  destroyed. 

Their  attempt  to  uproot  the  settlements  south  of  the 
Ohio  had  proved  vain,  but  they  were  the  more  resolute 
to  hold  the  country  on  the  north.  Until  1788  Ohio  was 
not  opened  to  settlement;  and  tlie  impossibility  of  obtain- 
ing titles  to  lands,  the  hortility  of  the  Indians  and  the 
proclamation  of  the  Government  forbidding  settlers  to 
enter,  (which  was  sternly  enforced  by  the  Indians),  until 
treaties  and  surveys  were  completed,  confined  the  whites 
to  the  regions  south  of  the  river.  During  that  year  many 
thousands  entered  the  region  which  had  been  so  populous 
during  the  time  of  the  Mound  Builders.  But  this  occupation 
was  based  chiefly  on  the  assumption  that  the  treaty  of  peace 


THE    CLOSE    OF   THE    OLD    INDIAN    WARS.  207 

with  England  had  conveyed  a  permanent  right  over  the  soil 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  The  Indians  re- 
fused to  recognize  any  such  right,  and  demanded  that  the 
whole  country  north  of  the  Ohio  should  be  vacated  and  left 
to  them.  Rights  resting  on  coiuj^uest  have  ever  been  consid- 
ered among  nations  as  valid.  The  Indians  had  joined  England 
in  the  war  and  both  had  been  successfully  resisted;  therefore 
their  territory  was  held  to  belong  to  the  conqueror.  To  make 
treaties  that  should  quiet  the  Indians  and  maintain  this  point 
was  the  eifort  of  the  new  Government.  This  effort  failed, 
although  various  treaties  were  made  with  one  or  more  tribes. 
They  were  constantly  disregarded,  after  a  little  time,  and 
more  or  less  desultory  war  carried  on  against  the  settlements 
north  and  south  of  the  river. 

Finding  that  negotiation  made  no  real  headway,  although 
a  formidable  outbreak  was  delayed  by  the  tribes,  General 
Harmar  was  sent  against  the  Miamis  in  1790.  Although 
he  laid  waste  their  helds  and  burned  some  of  their  towns, 
his  battles  were  not  entirely  successful  and  he  retired,  leaving 
a  sense  of  victory  in  the  minds  of  the  Indians.  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  General  St.  Clair  led  an  army  of  1,400  men  against 
them  and  met  a  defeat  as  decisive  as  Braddock's,  thirty-six 
years  before.  More  than  800  were  slain  and  the  rest  fled  in 
dismay  from  the  field. 

Preparations  were  commenced  at  once  to  send  an  adequate 
force  to  retrieve  these  disasters  and  protect  the  settlements, 
while  persevering  efforts  to  effect  a  treaty  with  the  combined 
tribes  without  further  bloodshed  were  undertaken.  The 
Indians  would  not  listen,  insisted  on  the  evacuation  of  their 
lands,  continued  to  attack  outlying  and  vulnerable  points  and 
labored  to  form  a  strong  confederation  like  that  under  Pontiac. 
General  Anthony  "Wayne  occupied  the  years  1792  and  1793  in 
organizing  and  training  an  army  equal  to  the  emergency,  and, 
August  20,  1794,  fought  a  decisive  battle  with  them  on  the 
Maumee  River.     This  virtually  put  an  end  to  the  war  and 


208  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

secured  a  solid  peace,  which  was  signed  August  3,  1795,  by- 
all  the  western  tribes.  The  Wild  Hunter  had  failed  in  his 
defense;  in  the  trial  of  strength  he  had  proved  the  weaker; 
and  the  English  who  had  encouraged  him  failed  to  succor  him 
in  the  hour  of  need.  He  now  comprehended  his  destiny  and 
bowed  before  it.  Goods  were  distributed  among  the  tribes 
to  the  value  of  $20,000,  and  about  $10,000  worth  were  to  be 
delivered  to  them  annually  thereafter.  The  State  of  Ohio  was 
mostly  ceded,  absolutely,  to  the  whites,  and  the  territory  west 
to  the  Mississippi  and  north  to  the  upper  lakes  secured  to 
the  Indians,  with  the  reserve  of  various  locations  for  forts. 

The  white  man  permitted  the  Indian  to  roam  over  his  own 
hunting  grounds  in  bitterness  of  heart,  anticipating  the  speedy 
approach  of  the  time  when  he  must  "  move  on,"  because  they 
would  be  wanted  by  the  civilized  race.  In  his  feeling  it  was 
a  bitter  lot,  but  humanity  has  been  immensely  enriched  by 
his  dispossession.  By  this  time  the  Cherokees  were  so  out- 
numbered by  dense  settlements  immediately  on  their  borders 
that  they  renounced  a  hopeless  contest.  The  Ohio  tribes  had 
frequently  the  satisfaction  of  defeating  their  foes,  and  acquired 
a  vast  amount  of  property  for  those  times ;  but  the  Cherokees 
had  been  constantly  defeated  since  1758,  when  they  destroyed 
Fort  Loudon,  and  there  was  no  encouragement  to  continue 
hostilities. 

Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Ohio  became  states  in  the  Union, 
Indiana  became  a  territory,  and,  after  a  time,  Illinois.  The 
Indians  looked  on  with  silent  rage.  It  was  past  help  and 
hope  unless  they  had  other  forces  than  their  own.  They  had 
valiantly  contested  every  foot  of  ground  in  the  West;  but 
the  more  they  slaughtered,  captured  and  tortured  at  the  stake, 
the  more  rapidly  did  this  flood  of  civilization  which  they 
hated  rise  and  threaten  to  overwhelm  them.  "  Like  tlw  grass 
of  the  prairie,  like  the  leaves  of  the  forest,"  said  they  to  the 
whites  in  their  picturesque  language,  "  you  spring  up  every- 
where." The  vigor  of  the  new  stock  crowded  out  the  T^ative 
plant. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


TECUMSEH    AND    HIS    ALLIES. 


Tlie  Indian  had  reason  to  wonder,  for  in  the  year  1795 — 
the  year  in  which  tliey  were  obliged  to  consent  to  the  aliena- 
tion of  all  the  lands  the  whites  wanted  ncjrth  of  the  Oliio^ 
twenty  thousand  emigrants  passed  down  the  river  to  seek 
permanent  homes  on  what  the  tribes  considered  their  own 
lands;  and  by  the  close  of  the  century  many  more  people  had 
emigrated  to  the  Valley  than  there  were  individuals  in  all 
the  wild  tribes  of  North  America.  Simple  astonishment  and 
'a  sense  of  helplessness  kept  them  quiet;  a  peace  of  fifteen 
years  permitted  the  more  accessible  parts  of  the  southern  and 
eastern  Valley  to  fill  up  with  a  population  almost  as  large  as 
all  the  colonies  contained  when  they  declared  their  independ- 
ence, and  this  population  had  laid  broad,  deep  and  most  satis- 
factory foundations  for  a  great  future. 

New  England,  Pennsylvania.  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
came,  so  to  speak,  bodily  to  the  West.  They  formed,  here 
and  there,  large  communities  and  considerable  towns,  for  the 
time  fairly  homogeneous,  and'  bearing  all  the  characteristics 
of  the  people  of  the  states  from  which  they  had  emigrated. 
They  soon  commenced  a  new  development,  Init,  for  the  pres- 
ent, it  was  simply  the  East  set  down  in  the  AVest,  with  all  its 
institutions,  its  thrift  and  the  intelligence  and  ambition  which 
the  shock  of  the  War  of  Independence  had  awakened  in  a 
race  rich  in  undeveloped  capacities.  This  fifteen  years  was 
the  utter  doom  of  the  red  man's  future  as  a  hunter  in  the 
Valley,  but  he  was  unable  to  see  its  full  import.  So  large  an 
idea  there  was  no  room  in  his  mind  to  receive. 

Tecumseh  was  born  to  rule  his  people,  and,  like  Philip  of 
Mount  Hope  and  Pontiac,  he  had  the  breadth,  the  power  and 
14  209 


210  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  enthusiasm  of  a  genius.  But  no  genius  can  afford  to 
dispense  with  a  broad  and  true  education,  which  gives  clear- 
ness and  exactness  to  thought  and  distinguishes  between  the 
visions  of  the  imagination  and  the  severe  realities  of  life. 
Tecumseh  had  been  often  in  communication  with  the  whites 
in  his  early  life;  but  he  was  a  genuine  Indian.  Civilized  life 
did  not  attract  him ;  there  was  nothing  he  found  desirable  in 
the  prosperous  comfort  of  the  settlements,  for  it  was  to  be 
obtained  only  as  the  reward  of  a  labor  and  drudgery  that 
were  abhorrent  to  the  soul  of  the  free  Child  of  the  "Woods. 
He  was  ambitious  and  found  no  opening  for  his  aspirations 
among  the  whites.  He  fancied  that  the  weakness  of  the 
Indian  was  caused  by  his  accepting  the  aids  of  civilization  ; 
that  if  he  returned  to  primitive  habits,  excluded  the  white 
trader  and  his  demoralizing  wares,  primitive  virtues  would 
return,  and  that  his  race  would  be  able  to  resist  the  progress 
of  the  whites. 

Associating  his  brother,  the  Prophet,  who  was  a  famous 
Indian  "  Medicine,"  with  himself,  he  appealed  to  the  super- 
stitions of  his  race,  urged,  by  eloquent  speeches  and  example, 
a  return  to  ancient  simplicity  and  self-dependence  and  labored, 
like  King  Philip  and  Pontiac,  to  unite  all  the  tribes,  north  and 
south,  in  a  general  confederacy  against  the  settlers.  He 
resolved  that  no  more  lands  should  be  sold  to  the  whites,  and 
secretly  visited  the  tribes,  using  all  his  own  eloquence  and 
the  arts  of  his  brother  to  organize  a  strong  confederacy  in  the 
upper  Valley,  from  1806  to  1811.  Great  Britain  had  not  yet 
lost  all  hope  of  recovering  her  former  colonies,  and  still  courted 
the  good  will  of  the  Indian  tribes  around  the  Great  Lakes,  as 
well  as  of  the  French  inhabitants  of  Canada.  Tecumseh  was 
in  communication  with  them  and  was  aware  of  the  approach- 
ing war,  and  he  prepared  to  strike  a  terrible  blow  when  it 
should  break  out. 

He  was  of  the  Shawnee  tribe,  who  have  been  called  the 
Arabs   of  the  Wilderness.     They  were   originally  from    the 


THE    PLANS    OF    TECUMSEH,    NOETH    AND    SOUTH.  211 

South,  from  which  they  liad  been  driven  by  the  combined 
enmity  of  the  Chickasaws  and  the  Cherokees.  Tecuraseh 
visited  the  southern  tribes,  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  and  urged  his  views  with  all  the  force  and  fire  of  Indian 
oratory.  The  Chickasaws  declined  to  enter  into  his  plans, 
but  the  Creeks  lent  a  more  willing  ear.  The  renown  of  the 
Shawnees,  who  were  among  the  most  warlike  tribes  in  the 
Valley,  and  had  been  prominent  in  all  the  old  wars  against 
the  whites,  was  known  to  them.  With  some  difficulty  he 
persuaded  the  Creeks  to  unite  with  him.  For  nearly  eighty 
years  they  had  been  in  relations,  for  the  most  part  of  friendly 
trade,  with  the  English,  and  some  of  their  chiefs  resisted  the 
proposal  and  refused  to  take  part  in  it.  Tecumseh  assured 
them  that  when  he  returned  North  he  would  "  stamp  his  foot 
and  the  whole  continent  would  tremble."  He  visited  all  the 
tribes  as  far  as  Florida  and  prepared  such  a  vengeance  against 
the  whites  in  the  South  as  had,  nearly  three  hundred  years 
before,  come  so  near  being  the  utter  destruction  of  De  Soto 
at  Maubila. 

Tecumseh  felt  England  behind  him  and  knew  that  the  war 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  American  Republic  was  about 
to  be  declared.  When  that  cotifiict  should  commence  he 
would  "  stamp  his  foot "  metaphorically,  and  his  southern 
allies  would  attribute  the  outbreak  to  his  mystical  power. 
He  had  already  confronted  Gen.  Wm.  H.  Harrison,  Governor 
of  Indiana  Territory,  in  a  council  held  August,  1810,  and 
refused  assent  to  a  treaty,  on  which  the  Governor  insisted, 
for  the  sale  of  more  land  required  for  settlement,  and  believed 
himself  strong  enough  to  defy  the  power  of  the  whites.  He 
was,  however,  sufficiently  politic  to  defer  the  commencement 
of  open  war  until  all  should  be  ready  to  strike  a  decisive  blow 
that  should  "  shake  the  continent."  His  brother  was  not  as 
prudent,  and  precipitated  the  war  before  his  return  from  the 
South,  and  before  a  sufficiently  large  force  had  been  collected 
to  make  sure  of  victory.     Governor  Harrison,  comprehending 


212  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  danger,  had  obtained  some  government  troops  and  called 
out  the  militia  of  the  territory  in  order  to  strike  a  decisive 
blow  in  season.  To  the  great  indignation  of  Tecumseh,  his 
brother  attacked  this  force  instead  of  temporizing  and  wait- 
ing till  success  could  reasonably  be  expected. 

This  was  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  and  was  fought  Novem- 
ber 7,  1811,  seven  months  before  the  declaration  of  war  against 
England  by  the  United  States  Government.  The  Prophet  was 
beaten,  his  forces  scattered,  his  own  prestige,  and  that  of 
Tecumseh,  with  the  confederacy  they  had  been  at  so  much 
pains  to  organize,  were  lost.  The  grand  blow  that  was  to  have 
been  so  fatal  was  turned  aside  and  resolved  into  an  ordinary 
series  of  attacks  on  weak  outposts,  scattered  settlers  and 
small  bands  of  whites.  Tecumseh,  still  hoping  to  retrieve 
the  mistake  through  the  success  of  the  British  forces  when 
the  war  should  begin,  retired  to  Canada,  collected  his  Indian 
allies  in  that  region,  and  waited. 

War  was  declared  June  19,  1812,  and  hostilities  soon  com- 
menced in  the  neighborhood  of  Detroit.  July  17,  a  British 
and  Indian  force  captured  Mackinaw;  General  Hull,  after  com- 
mencing an  invasion  of  Upper  Canada,  retreated,  without  good 
reason,  to  Detroit;  and  a  party  he  sent  out  to  meet  reinfoi'ce- 
ments  was  ambushed  by  Tecumseh  and  cut  to  pieces.  Tecum- 
seh joined  the  British  commander  in  a  demonstration  against 
Detroit,  which  so  intimidated  General  Hull  that  he  surren- 
dered that  place  and  all  the  forces  under  his  command,  with- 
out resistance,  August  16,  1812.  The  Indians  further  west 
watched  their  chances,  one  of  wljich  occurred  at  Chicago 
August  15.  The  garrison  had  been  ordered  by  General  Hull 
to  evacuate  Fort  Dearborn,  located  at  the  mouth  of  Chicago 
River.  After  having  marched  out  they  were  attacked  hy  the 
Indians.  The  party  attacked  contained  about  eighty  soldiers, 
a  trader  with  his  employes,  and  a  number  of  women  and 
children.  Between  fifty  and  sixty,  including  two  women  and 
twelve  children,  were  massacred,  and  the   remainder   made 


THE    DEATH    OF    TECUMSEH.  '  213 

prisoners.  But  no  really  important  successes  in  the  West 
enabled  the  Indian  tribes  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  to  over- 
come the  depressing  eifect  of  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.  A 
vigorous  patrol  was  kept  up  on  the  frontier  by  the  settlers. 
Many  lives  were  lost  but  no  large  Indian  force  was  gathered, 
and  the  whites  gradually  drove  the  hostile  tribes  north  and 
west  beyond  the  boundaries  of  settlement. 

But  Tecumseh  had  staked  all  on  the  success  of  the  British. 
With  two  thousand  or  more  warriors  he  gave  them  all  the 
assistance  possible,  and  in  many  reverses  which  befell  the 
American  forces  horrible  inassacres  were  perpetrated  by  the 
tribes  he  commanded.  January  22,  1S13,  at  French  town,  on 
the  River  Baisin,  an  American  force  numbering  800  was 
defeated,  and,  after  the  surrender  to  the  British,  all  the  survi- 
vors but  thirty-three  were  massacred  by  the  Indians.  Another 
disaster  at  Fort  Meigs,  May  5  following,  resulted  in  the  death 
or  captivity  of  650  Americans.  But  the  day  of  hope  for 
Tecumseh  was  drawing  to  a  close.  September  10,  1813,  Com- 
modore Perry  obtained  command  of  Lake  Erie  by  a  decisive 
naval  victory  over  the  British.  This  was  followed  by  the 
invasion  of  Upper  Canada  by  General  Harrison  and  the  battle 
of  the  Thames,  October  5,  in  which  a  complete  victory  was 
gained  over  the  united  British  and  Indians,  and  Tecumseh 
was  killed.  He  had  been  exceedingly  formidable  by  his  reso- 
lute valor  and  the  barbarity  of  his  Indian  allies.  In  his  fall 
all  danger  of  Indian  confederations  in  the  upper  Valley  passed 
away.  In  him  the  hope  of  the  prairie  and  lake  tribes  became 
extinct,  and  the  danger  to  the  settlements  was  over. 

In  1812  another  event,  which  became  the  signal  and  the 
instrument  of  a  new  and  greater  era  of  progress  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Valley,  occurred — the  first  steamboat  on  west- 
ern waters  awakened  the  echoes  of  the  woods  from  Pittsburgh 
to  New  Orleans.     The  Age  of  Steam  had  begun. 

In  the  South  the  war  cry  of  Tecumseh,  in  1812,  found  no 
echo  among  the  Choctaws,  the  Chickasaws  or  the  Cherokees. 


214  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

A  portion  of  the  Creeks  also  refused  -to  listen;  but  some 
thousands  of  them  seized  the  tomahawk  and  sprung  upon  the 
war  patli  in  answer,  and  proved  themselves  the  bravest  and 
most  uncompromising  of  their  race. 

For  a  hundred  years  they  had  been  multiplying  their  rela- 
tions with  the  French  and  Spanish,  on  the  South  and  West, 
and  the  English  on  the  East;  and,  since  the  close  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary War  in  1783,  emigration  had  pressed  on  them  from 
all  sides.  They  had  come  into  closer  contact  with  civilization 
than  the  tribes  of  the  North.  Some  of  their  most  eminent 
chiefs  were  educated  half-breeds;  trade  was  briskly  driven  by 
multitudes  of  intelligent  men,  as  well  as  adventurers,  and 
the  capacity  of  the  Indian  to  become  considerably  civilized, 
in  time,  and  under  favorable  conditions,  became  evident. 
There  were  two  parties  among  them.  One  clung  to  the 
whites;  the  other  sighed  for  the  wild  freedom  of  ancient  days 
and  longed  for  the  excitement  of  war.  These  had  kept  up 
occasional  hostilities  with  tlie  intruding  settlers  from  the 
first,  and  tried  to  resist  the  progress  of  civilization  among 
their  people.  This  party  sprung  to  arms  at  the  call  of 
Tecumseh;  the  other  joined  the  whites,  who  were  also  sup- 
ported, more  or  less,  by  bands  of  Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and 
Cherokees. 

In  the  heart  of  their  country,  about  a  hundred  miles  north 
of  Mobile,  were  considerable  settlements.  Here  fell  the  most 
fearful  blows.  The  war  spirit  had  reached  its  height;  many 
isolated  murders  had  occurred,  and  the  inhabitants  collected 
into  forts. 

In  a  battle  fought  between  the  whites  and  Indians  on 
the  27th  July,  1813,  at  Burnt  Corn,  the  whites  were  defeated. 
The  country  was  insufficiently  provided  with  means  of  de- 
fense. Over  550  persons  were  collected  in  Fort  Minis,  a  few 
miles  from  the  ancient  Maubila,  where  the  Indians  of  that 
time  fought  so  terrible  a  battle  with  De  Soto,  nearly  three 
hundred   years  before.     On  the  30th  of  August  this  place 


TlIK    HEROIC  BRAVERY    OF    THE    CREEKS.  215 

was  attacked  by  one  thousand  Creek  warriors.  The  garrison 
was  unprepared  and  one  of  the  gates  was  open. 

The  Indians  rushed  in  before  it  could  be  closed  and  the 
fearful  work  of  slaughter  began.  It  continued  for  five  hours, 
for  the  doomed  settlers  fought  with  the  bravery  of  despair. 
Fourteen  persons  escaped,  a  few  negroes  and  half-breeds  were 
kept  as  slaves.  All  the  rest  perished.  The  slaughter  and 
cruelties  of  DeSoto  were  avenged  on  a  nobler  race,  on  women 
and  children. 

The  whole  surroiinding  country  was  roused.  From  Geor- 
gia, Irom  Mobile,  from  the  Clioctaws  and  Chickasaws,  and 
from  Tennessee  the  cruel  Creeks  were  assailed.  Gen.  Jackson, 
afterward  the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  hastened  with  a  large 
force  from  Nashville,  and  sent  Gen.  Coffee  to  attack  Tallase- 
hatchie,  where  a  party  of  the  Creek  warriors  had  assembled. 
More  than  200  were  slain,  not  one  asking  or  accepting  quarter. 
They  fought  till  the  last  was  killed.  This  was  November  3, 
1813.  On  the  9th  November  they  were  again  defeated  with 
great  slaughter  at  Talladega;  Gen.  Cocke  defeated  them  No- 
vember 18;  and  Gen.  Floyd,  commanding  an  expedition  from 
Georgia,  routed  them,  inflicting  on  them  a  loss  of  200  war- 
riors, November  29.  Gen.  Claiborne  inflicted  another  defeat 
on  them,  at  Holy  Ground,  December  23. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  reverses  there  was  no  sign  of 
quailing  among  these  fierce  and  heroic  warriors.  General 
Jackson  desired  to  spare  a  race  so  brave  ;  but  they  preferred 
death  to  surrender  as  long  as  they  could  keep  the  field.  Twice 
they  attacked  Jackson's  force  and  were  beaten  off  with  difii- 
culty — January  21  and  2-1,  1814.  The  Indians  considered 
these  to  be  victories,  since,  the  battles  over,  the  army  retired 
to  its  intrenchments.  It  was  too  weak  to  pursue  so"  valiant 
and  determined  a  foe.  It  has  been  affirmed  that,  in  these  last 
two  battles,  the  Indians  were  inferior  to  Jackson's  army  by 
several  hundreds. 

January  27,  1811:,  they  attacked  General  Floyd,   with  his 


216  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Georgia  troops,  amounting  to  more  than  1,600  men.  Al- 
tliough  beaten  off,  they  had  inflicted  so  much  loss  that  Gen. 
Floyd  judged  it  wisest  to  retire.  March  27,  Gen.  Jackson 
attacked  a  chosen  band  of  1,000  warriors,  who  had  fortified  a 
peninsula  on  the  Tallapoosa  River,  called  the  Horse  Shoe, 
from  its  form.  His  force  was  double  that  of  the  Indians  and 
furnished  with  cannon  and  cavalry.  The  Creeks  defended 
themselves  with  a  bravery  never  excelled,  answered  all  offers 
of  peace  with  bullets,  and  nearly  all  perished. 

But  a  remnant  was  now  left.  Part  of  these  made  their 
submission  from  time  to  time,  and  a  part  fled  to  the  Semi- 
noles,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Spain,  to  renew  the  same 
desperate  conflict  many  years  later.  August  10,  Gen.  Jackson 
concluded  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Creeks,  and  the  impor- 
tant Indian  Wars  of  the  Valley  east  of  tlie  Mississippi 
River  were  over.  The  wild  hunter  of  the  South — equally 
with  the  tribes  of  the  North — had  failed  in  his  defense.  lie 
yielded  only  when  he  could  do  no  more.  Some  of  the  in-e- 
concilable  Creeks  fled  to  the  swamps  of  Florida  and  joined 
the  Seminoles.  These,  thus  recruited,  and  strengthened  by 
escaped  negro  slaves  in  later  years,  made  a  resolute  stand  and 
shed  much  blood  before  they  could  be  vanquished  in  their 
almost  inaccessible  retreats.  This  was  done  at  great  cost, 
and  all  the  tribes  east  of  the  river  were  finally  removed  to 
reservations  west  of  that  stream — mostly  to  the  Indian  Tei-- 
ritory  west  of  Arkansas.  The  red  hunter  had  made  a  vain 
but  gallant  fight  for  the  possession  of  the  Great  Valley. 

The  overflowing  resources  of  the  Valley  may  be  made  to 
support  in  abundant  comfort  perhaps  two  hundred  millions 
of  human  beings.  The  Indian  tribes  who  occupied  it  proba- 
bly never  numbered  one  hundred  thousand  souls  east  of  the 
Mississippi;  tliey  made  the  least  possible  use  of  its  capabili- 
ties, often  suffering  from  want  in  the  midst  of  the  plenty  it 
offered;  and  instead  of  using  its  resources,  they  found  their 
chief  business  and  delight   in  war — capturing,  slaying  and 


THE    INDIAN    POLICY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  217 

torturing  each  other.  It  is  impossible  to  see  any  philanthropy 
in  scrupulously  leaving  them  to  neglect  and  waste  these 
immense  sources  of  welfare  to  man  because  they  were  in  tem- 
porary possession.  If  we  admit  that  it  was  right  to  oblige 
them  to  permit  others  to  develop  tlie  wealth  they  neglected, 
the  Indian  policy  of  the  United  States  Government  may  be 
called  worthy  of  a  just  and  enlightened  people.  It  may  even 
be  called  chivalrous  and  considerate  almost  beyond  example, 
and,  in  some  points,  unwisely  so. 

The  French  of  the  seventeenth  century  treated  the  tribes 
as  allies  because  they  had  need  of  them.  When  the  English 
Government  acquired  possession  of  the  regions  occupied,  or 
claimed,  by  the  French,  it  continued  this  practice  for  the 
same  reason.  The  Republic  did  not  require  Indian  allies,  yet 
it  continued  to  treat  them  as  independent  nationalities,  over 
whom  it  assumed  no  rights  of  control  but  what  treaties  gave 
it.  The  actual  character  of  the  situation  was  not,  however, 
in  keeping  with  this  nominal  relationship.  Equality  is 
assumed  by  this  policy,  or,  at  least,  the  power  on  each  side  of 
fulfilling  treaty  stipulations.  Could  definite  bounds  to  the 
progress  of  settlement  have  been  maintained,  or  could  the 
Indians  have  accepted  civilization,  have  withdrawn  themselves 
to  a  reasonable  area,  or  have  settled  on  so  much  land  as  they 
could  cultivate,  like  the  rest  of  the  agricultural  population, 
no  difiiculty  would  have  presented  itself. 

This,  for  the  tribes,  was  impossible  from  the  rigid  nature  of 
the  Indian  and  his  immemorial  habits  ;  and  it  was  equally 
impossible  to  allow  them  suflicient  territory  to  support  them 
as  hunters  in  the  best  parts  of  the  Valley.  The  assumed 
relation,  therefore,  was  not  the  real  one.  The  Indians  were 
the  wards  of  the  nation.  They  resisted  the  demand  for  their 
lands,  but  they  must  be  had  nevertheless  ;  and  treaties,  for 
the  most  part,  have  been  merely  the  expression  of  Indian 
assent,  most  unwillingly  given,  to  a  demand  which  thev  were 
unable   to    resist.      This   demand   was  unavoidablv  made — 


218  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

but  with  such  mitigating  circumstances  as  the  case  admitted 
Goods  and  money  were  freely  given  to  procure  assent  by 
temporary  gratification,  and  the  future  support  of  the  tribes 
was  assumed,  so  ftxr  as  they  required  aid,  as  a  just  return  for 
the  enforced  abandonment  of  their  lands. 

It  has  been  computed  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  paid,  or  engaged  to  pay,  to  the  tribes  of  the  whole 
country  about  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  for  their  lands. 
Much  of  this  is  invested  and  the  interest  paid  them  annually 
for  their  support. 

They  are  treated  as  far  as  possible  as  independent  communi- 
ties. They  govern  themselves  with  entire  freedom  within  the 
limits  assigned  them,  and  no  force  is  applied  to  oblige  them  to 
change  their  traditional  habits  if  they  keep  the  peace  and  carry 
out  the  provisions  of  the  treaties.  This  is  both  chivalrous  and 
kind;  but  it  has  many  unfortunate  results.  For  the  most 
part  they  have  few  of  the  qualities  necessary  to  preserve  them 
fi'um  degradation  when  deprived  of  the  e.xcitements  and  stim- 
ulus to  self-preservation  of  their  ancient  life.  Their  few  rude 
and  barbarous  virtues  mostly  disappear  when  in  contact  with, 
or  dependent  on,  the  whites.  They  readily  receive  some  of 
the  worst  vices  of  civilization  while  its  virtues  are  unattrac- 
tive and  incomprehensible  to  them.  In  this  state  of  inde- 
pendent dependence,  so  to  speak,  they  are  I'emoved  from 
elevating  influences  while  subjected  to  many  that  are  demor- 
alizing. It  is  quite  impossible  to  keep  abandoned  whites 
wholly  away  from  them;  it  is  practically  impossible  to  con- 
trol government  agencies  among  them  so  completely  that  its 
intentions  shall  be  always  fully  carried  out,  and  still  more 
impossible  to  pi-event  the  intrusion  and  occasional  violent 
deeds  of  unscrupulous  men  on  the  borders  of  civilized  society 
— or  outside  of  them — that  exasperate  the  tribes  and  excite 
them  to  fearful  retaliation  on  the  innocent.  Above  all. 
the  independent  condition  leaves  them  under  the  control  of 
their  naturally  fierce  and  bloody  passions.     The  slavery  to 


THE    DIFFICULTIES    OF   THE    INDIAN    QUESTION.  211) 

which  the  Spaniards  subjected  tlie  Mexicans  and  Peruvians 
was,  in  some  aspects,  preferable  to  this  liberty  to  remain  in 
primitive  barbarism — after  having  lost  primitive  virtues — and 
to  add  to  it  civilized  vices. 

The  Indian  Policy  of  France  and  Great  Britain,  in  Canada, 
was  different  and  seems,  in  some  respects,  more  successful. 
They  have  been  left  there  with  less  liberty,  and  more  strin- 
gent regulations  against  evil  white  influence  have  been  com- 
bined with  more  effort  to  overcome  their  distaste  for  civilized 
habits;  but  the  numbers  there  have  been  few  compared  with 
those  in  the  United  States,  and,  for  the  most  part,  from  vari- 
ous causes,  they  have  been  less  fierce  and  intractable.  The 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  Indian 
Question  have  proved  really  insurmountable.  The  liberty 
allowed  them  has  constantly  been  abused,  and  an  Indian  war 
has  been  of  almost  annual  occurrence  since  settlement  began 
to  pass  the  Missouri  River.  The  army  required  to  subdue 
and  police  them  has  cost  uncounted  millions,  and  manj'  thou- 
sand lives  have  been  lost.  The  settlers  subject  to  their  attacks 
have  very  naturally  been  greatly  exasperated  at  their  bloody 
brutality  and  would  wish  them  mercilessly  exterminated,  while 
those  who  consider  the  wrongs  almost  inevitably  done  them 
criticise  the  Indian  Policy  from  the  opposite  point  of  view. 

It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  so  intractable  a  race  of  several  hun- 
dred thousand  could  have  been  more  generously  treated  under 
all  the  circumstances,  nor  how  the  Indian  Policy  could  have 
been  so  altered  as  to  obviate  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  with- 
out doing  extreme  violence  to  the  Indian  nature.  The  meana 
'  that  were  at  hand  to  influence  them  have  been  employed ;  all 
possible  liberty  has  been  allowed  them,  and  when  their  feroc- 
ity has  broken  forth  in  war  they  have  been  chastised  only  so 
far  as  was  necessary  to  restore  peace  and  induce  them  to  keep 
it.  The  character  of  the  race  must  have  made  any  policy  a 
failure  which  sought  their  well-being  as  civilized  communities 
would  understand  it. 


220  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

The  filling  up  of  the  Pacific  Slope,  the  vast  Rocky  Moun- 
tain region  and  the  Western  Plains  with  a  civilized  popula- 
tion, must  make  a  change  in  this  policy  inevitable  at  no  distant 
day.  The  idea  of  a  real  independence  can  not  be  maintained 
when  liberty  to  remain  savages  would  mean  placing  adjacent 
settlements  at  the  mercy  of  their  bloody  barbarism.  To  con-  ' 
strain  them  to  retire  to  reservations,  to  lead  a  quiet  and  peace- 
able life,  and  to  learn  the  arts  of  civilization  will  be  essential 
to  the  safety  of  the  growing  population  of  the  Great  "West. 
This  change  will  naturally  be  as  quiet  and  gradual  as  possible; 
but,  ultimately,  their  destiny  is  to  accept  civilization  or  to  be 
punished  into  annihilation.  This,  the  safety  and  welfare  of  far 
larger  numbers  and  much  more  important  interests  than  their 
own  will  absolutely  demand. 

Between  1830  and  1850  the  southern  tribes,  and  a  part  of 
the  northern,  were  partly  persuaded  and  partly  forced  to 
exchange  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  for  a  remarkably 
fine  region — the  Indian  Territory— beyond  the  then  borders 
of  civilization.  Their  removal  was  accomplished  at  the  cost 
of  the  United  States,  and  annual  funds  for  their  support  pro- 
vided. The  southern  tribes  had  been  so  long  and  closely  con- 
nected with  the  whites  that  they  were  able  to  adopt  many  of 
the  habits  of  an  agricultural  population.  The  result  has  not, 
apparently,  been  a  failure,  and  it  indicates  the  probable  future 
of  the  race.  While  a  vast  territory  remained  unoccupied  they 
were  interfered  with  very  little;  but  the  plains  are  already 
largely  settled,  and  a  civilized  population  is  crowding  into 
the  fertile  valleys  and  basins  and  opening  mines  in  the  various 
ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  plateau.  As  in  the  Yalley 
formerly,  the  tribes  of  this  region  now  resist  encroachment 
by  repeated  bloody  outbreaks.  It  is  not  believed  that  the 
whole  number  of  Indians  within  the  present  area  of  the 
United  States  is  less  than  the  same  area  contained  three  hun- 
dred years  ago.  There  will  soon  be  no  more  room  for  the 
Wild  Hunter,  and  stern  necessity  will  require  that  he  forget 


THE    ULTIMATE    FATE    OF    THE    INDIANS.  221 

liis  distaste  for  labor  and  adopt  tlie  habits  of  the  farmer.  The 
inevitable  fate  of  the  tribes  of  the  Dakota  race  and  the  Pacific 
Slope  is  to  imitate  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws  and  Creeks  of  the 
Indian  Territory,  and  their  descendants  will  ultimately  become 
citizens  of  the  Republic.  On  the  whole,  the  Indian  Policy 
of  the  country  may  be  designated  as  just,  forbearing  and  con- 
siderate. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    HEROIC    PERIOD    OF    SETTLEMENT. 

By  the  time  that  the  sparks  of  Pontiac's  "War  were  com- 
pletely extinguished  a  fair  acquaintance  with  the  upper  part 
of  the  Ohio  valley  had  been  gained  by  various  English,  or 
Anglo-American  explorers.  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  had  pene- 
trated to  the  heart  of  Kentucky  in  1747  and  again  in  1758. 
The  contest  with  the  French  and  then  the  Indians,  the  nego- 
tiations of  British  and  colonial  agents,  and  the  wanderings 
of  English  traders  south  of  Lake  Erie,  had  made  Ohio  and 
Western  Pennsylvania  familiar  ground.  In  1766,  a  party 
headed  by  Caj^t.  James  Smith  visited  the  lower  valleys  of  the 
Tennessee  and  Cumberland  Rivers,  tracing  them  to  the  Ohio. 
In  the  same  year  Findlay,  Harrod  and  others  wandered  over 
other  parts  of  Kentucky. 

In  June,  1769,  Daniel  Boone  and  others  penetrated  to 
Kentucky.  There  was  danger  from  the  Indians  and  some  of 
the  party  were  killed,  but  Boone  remained  hunting  and  study- 
ing Kentucky  three  years  ;  much  of  the  time  alone.  A 
skillful  hunter,  more  than  a  match  for  the  Indians  in  their 
own  crafty  ways,  and  delighted  with  this  beautiful  region — it 
was  not  a  "  dark  and  bloody  ground  "  to  him,  but  a  Land  of 
Promise. 

On  the  9th  of  March,  1769,  a  petition  of  the  "  Mississippi 
Company,"  signed  by  George  Washington  among  others, 
was  presented  to  the  English  Board  of  Trade  asking  for 
two  and  a  half  million  acres  of  land  in  Ohio.  It  was  not 
granted  until  Franklin's  paper  on  "The  Ohio  Settlement" 
had  interested  the  Government  in  the  scheme.  The  king 
signed  the  grant,  August  14,  1,772.  In  1769,  Tennessee 
received   its   iirst   permanent   settlers.     Previously   to   this. 


EARLY    SETTLEMENTS    FROM    PITTSBURGH    TO    MOBILE.       223 

(from  1750  to  1760)  settlers  liad  crossed  the  boundaries  of  the 
Valley  in  southwest  Virginia  and  western  North  Carolina. 
This  was  an  extension  of  those  settlements.  At  the  same 
time  settlers  located  on  the  Holston  River. 

1764  to  1769. — French  and  Spanish  settlements  already- 
existed  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf,  in  Alabama,  and  near  the 
Great  River  in  Mississippi.  This  region  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  British  Government  in  1764,  being  called  West 
Florida.  A  large  part  of  the  French  inhabitants  retired 
across  the  Mississippi.  The  English  encouraged  emigration 
there,  and  settlers  from  North  Carolina,  Virginia  and  Georsjia 
located  in  the  present  State  of  Mississippi  between  these 
dates.  French  settlements  had  long  before  begun  to  creep 
up  the  Alabama  River  from  Mobile,  the  residence  of  a 
garrison. 

1770. — A  settlement  was  formed  at  Wheeling,  in  this 
year. 

Emigrants  from  New  Jersey  settled  in  Mississippi,  followed 
soon  after  by  others  from  England,  Scotland,  Ireland  and  the 
West  Indies.  Negro  slavery  was  introduced  from  the  lirst, 
by  the  French  and  British. 

1771. — Pensacola,  in  this  year,  contained  eighty  houses  and 
was  the  residence  of  the  English  Governor.  The  unhealthy 
climate  along  the  Gulf  coast  rendered  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion slow  on  that  side,  while  the  fierceness  of  the  Creeks 
retarded  settlements  on  the  higher  lands  of  the  interior;  yet 
traders  and  travelers  were  constantly  crossing  their  countiy  in 
all  directions. 

1772. — Settlements  in  East  Tennessee  extended  north  and 
south  from  the  Wautauga.  We  learn  from  Washington's 
diary  of  a  journey  made  to  Pittsburgh  and  the  Keidiawa 
River  below,  where  he  had  lands,  that  families  were  then 
(1770)  crossing  the  mountains  in  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia. 
Farms  had  now  begun  to  multiply  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Pittsburgh. 


224  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

1773. — Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were  swarming  with  sur- 
veyors and  e.xplorers  selecting  sites  for  settlement.  Louisville 
was  surveyed  and  the  plat  of  a  town  laid  out  (though  no  set- 
tlers had  yet  arrived)  for  John  Campbell  and  John  ConoUy, 
in  this  year.  Four  hundred  persons  are  also  said  to  have 
passed  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  to  settle  in  the  Natchez 
region.  In  this  year,  also,  Daniel  Boone  started  with  his 
family  and  cattle  from  North  Carolina  to  locate  in  Kentucky. 
Being  attacked  by  the  Indians  on  the  way  and  si.\  men  slain 
(there  were  five  other  families,  and  several  men  besides,  with 
him),  he  retired  to  the  settlement  on  Clinch  River  and  waited 
two  years  before  establishing  the  first  family  in  Kentucky,  in 
the  meanwhile  exploring  for  other  parties.  Emigrants  from 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina  are  said  to  have  passed  down  the 
Tennessee  to  Mississippi — an  enterprise  of  astonishing  hardi- 
hood and  resolution. 

177-i. — Capt.  James  Harrod  with  forty  others  laid  out 
Harrodsburg,  and  built  a  number  of  cabins,  but  did  not  yet 
bring  their  families. 

1775. — A  crop  of  corn  was  raised  this  year  by  Simon  Ken- 
ton and  Thomas  Williams,  at  Maysville,  Kentucky.  Settle- 
ments were  commenced  at  Boonesborough  by  Daniel  Boone, 
and  at  Harrodsburg  and  block-houses  built,  and  also  at  three 
other  places,  all  in  the  heart  of  Kentucky  and  widely  sepa- 
rated from  each  other.  At  the  end  of  this  year  there  were 
five  hundred  persons  in  all  the  settlements  of  Kentucky,  most 
of  them  beinjf  vigorous  men.  Two  hundred  and  fiftv  acres  of 
corn  were  planted  and  gathered. 

The  "  Transylvania  Company  "  was  formed  in  North  Car- 
olina. Richard  Henderson  was  at  its  head.  They  made  a 
private  purchase  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Kentucky  and 
another  in  Tennessee^  of  the  Cherokee  Indians,  for  10,000 
pounds  sterling,  and  sought  to  organize  a  government.  Vir- 
ginia did  not  recognize  the  purchase  in  Kentucky,  and  the 
attempt  to  organize  a  government  was  limited  to  a  preliini- 


SETTLEMENT,    WAR,    AND    HEROISM    IN    KENTl'CKY.  225 

iiary  convention.  Virginia  claimed  them  as  part  of  her  popu- 
lation, in  the  next  year,  and  organized  a  county  in  Kentucky. 

1776. — A  few  new  settlements  were  made  in  Kentucky  in 
this  year,  in  Franklin  and  Washington  Counties.  July  7 
three  young  ladies,  one  being  a  daughter  of  Boone,  were  cap- 
tured by  the  Indians.  The  girls  were  amusing  themselves  in 
a  canoe,  on  the  Kentucky  River,  within  sight  of  Boones- 
borough.  They  were  recaptured,  uninjured,  the  next  day. 
A  trip  was  made  from  Pittsburgh  to  New  Orleans  for  powder. 
In  the  next  year  136  kegs  were  successfully  brought  up  to  the 
former  place.  George  Rogers  Clarke  settled  in  Kentucky  this 
year.  The  Cherokee  Indians  prepared  to  destroy  the  Ten- 
nessee settlements.  July  20  and  21  two  battles  were  fought 
with  them  by  the  settlers,  with  complete  success. 

1777. — The  Indian  tribes  became  much  exasperated  by  the 
growing  settlements  and  constantly  harassed  them,  hovering 
about  in  the  woods  to  surprise  individuals,  or  laying  siege  to 
the  forts.     This  state  of  things  continued  for  twenty  years. 

September  26,  Fort  Henry,  near  Wheeling,  was  approached 
by  400  hundred  Indians.  They  were  led  by  Simon  Girty,  a 
white  man,  Indian  agent  of  the  British  Government.  The 
defenders  numbered  but  twelve  men  and  boys,  tlie  rest  having 
been  lured  into  the  woods  and  killed  before  the  besiegers  showed 
themselves.  The  defense  continued  most  of  the  day,  when 
ammunition  ran  short.  A  keg  of  powder  was  concealed  in  a 
house  outside  of  the  Fort,  sixty  yards  distant.  A  young 
woman  volunteered  to  go  for  it  through  a  storm  of  bullets 
and  returned  unhurt.  The  defense  was  continued  till  aid 
arrived,  and  the  savages  retreated  discomfitted,  with  a  loss  of 
one  hundred  killed. 

Logan's  Station  was  besieged  from  May  to  September, 
in  this  year.  Powder  giving  out  Logan  took  two  of  his 
men,  and,  escaping  through  the  surrounding  forest  fiHed 
with  Indians,  traveled  to  the  Holston  settlement,  two  hun- 
dred miles  distant,  and  back  in  ten  days.  At  length  help 
15 


226  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

arrived  from  Virginia  and  the  garrison  was  relieved  after  sev- 
eral months  of  siege.  Through  all  the  preceding  winter  the 
woods  in  the  vicinity  of  the  settlement  swarmed  with  Indians. 
Provisions  grew  scarce.  Though  there  was  plenty  of  game 
it  was  dangerous  to  hunt.  O  ne  youth  of  seventeen  succeeded 
in  eluding  the  watch  of  the  Indians,  and,  through  all  the  win- 
ter, escaped  from  the  vicinity  of  his  fort  before  day  on  the 
only  horse  that  remained  to  the  garrison,  loaded  it  with  game 
killed  beyond  the  hearing  of  the  beleaguering  enemy,  and, 
with  an  unfailing  caution  and  skill,  succeeded  in  returning  at 
night,  thus  preserving  the  besieged  from  starvation  or  cap- 
ture. 

Even  the  children  sometimes  displayed  the  prudence  and 
intrepid  resolution  which  was  the  prevailing  tone  of  the  society 
about  them.  It  is  related  that  three  boys,  the  oldest  not 
twelve  years  of  age,  were  surprised  by  a  few  Indian  warriors 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  near  Louisville,  but  out  of  sight  of 
their  home,  whose  locality  was  unknown  to  the  savages.  To 
have  made  it  known  to  them  would  have  been  its  ruin,  and  the 
death  or  captivity  of  the  family.  With  great  presence  of  mind, 
the  boys  misled  them  as  to  its  nearness,  and  were  carried  far 
up  into  Indiana  by  their  captors,  the  eldest  boy,  suppressing  his 
grief  and  fear,  keeping  up  the  spirits  of  his  companions,  and 
by  his  liveliness  and  boldness  pleasing  the  Indians.  For  some 
weeks  they  were  held  in  captivity,  when,  being  left  in  the 
care  of  an  aged  Indian  and  one  or  two  women,  during  an 
expedition,  the  young  hero  killed  them  while  asleep  and  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  his  way  back  to  the  river  with  his  two  com- 
panions. 

Singular  accidents  sometimes  occurred.  Colonel  Rogers 
was  defeated  in  an  accidental  meeting  with  a  body  of  Indians 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Licking  River.  Captain  Benhamwas 
disabled  in  both  legs  and  another  of  tlie  party  was  wounded 
in  both  arms.  They  alone  of  the  survivors  were  left  on  the 
battle  field,  far  from  help.     Here  they  remained  for  six  weeks, 


HOW    THE    PIONEERS    HELD    THEIE    GROUND. 


9'^: 


the  man  with  the  sound  legs  but  useless  arms  taking  the  man 
with  good  arms  but  useless  legs  on  his  shoulders  to  hunt  and 
cook,  and  so  preserved  each  other  from  famine  and  death.  It 
was  a  trying,  but  often  a  romantic,  time,  because  courage  and 
ingenuity  rose  to  match  the  difficulty. 

The  Cherokees,  repulsed  by  the  Tennessee  settlers,  attacked 
the  outlying  settlements  of  Georgia,  ±y  orth  Carolina,  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia  within  striking  distance.  The  author- 
ities of  each  of  these  states  raised  troops  which  marched  into 
the  Cherokee  country  and  inflicted  a  punishment  so  severe 
that  the  tribe  was  reduced  to  the  greatest  misery  and  ceased 
to  trouble  the  new  settlements  for  some  time. 

In  this  year  (1777),  Bartram,  an  able  botanist,  visited  the 
South,  passed  through  the  Creek  nation,  the  English  settle- 
ments on  the  Gulf  and  those  on  the  Mississippi  River.  He 
found  settlers  increasing  and  many  fine  plantations  in  various 
parts.  Pensacola  had  several  hundred  houses,  and  an  active 
and  lucrative  trade  was  carried  on  with  the  Indians. 

1778. — Boone  was  surprised  and  taken  prisoner  with  twenty- 
seven  of  his  men.  All  were  well  treated.  Boone  was  greatly 
admired  by  the  Indians,  and  they  wished  to  adopt  him  into 
the  tribe.  Escaping  from  them  at  Chillicothe,  Boone  traveled 
160  miles  in  four  days,  having  eaten  but  one  meal  in  that 
time,  and  prepared  his  fort  to  withstand  a  siege  by  several 
hundred  Indians, Vho,  he  had  learned,  were  about  starting  to 
attack  it. 

General  Clarke  made  an  expedition  into  Illinois  and  got 
possession  of  all  the  English  posts  in  that  country.  "With  a 
temporary'  exception,  they  were  held  by  the  Americans  during 
the  remainder  of  the  war,  and  a  fort  was  built  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.  This  occupation,  together  with  the  heroic 
defense  of  the  pioneers  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  secured 
the  eastern  Valley  to  the  United  States,  by  the  treaty  of. 
peace  made  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  also  protected  the 
rear  of  the  organized  States  from  invasion  by  the  British  and 


228  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

their  Indian  allies.  By  defending  itself,  the  "West  defended 
the  rest  of  the  country,  and  contributed  to  the  establishment 
of  American  Independence.  Clarke  had,  on  his  first  inva- 
sion, but  153  men,  a  part  of  them  being  from  Kentucky.  A 
permanfent  settlement  at  Louisville  was  made  in  1778.  The 
inhabitants  of  Tennessee  increased  greatly  in  numbers  and 
prosperity  in  this  and  the  previous  year.  Kentucky  contin- 
ued to  increase  in  population  rapidly,  though  much  harassed 
by  Indian  attacks. 

1779. — Vincennes,  in  Indiana,  which  had  been  reoccupied 
by  Indians  and  British  troops  after  Clarke'.s  capture  of  it, 
was  recovered  by  Clarke,  February  25,  with  eighty-one  prison- 
ers and  $50,000  worth  of  military  stores.  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, was  settled  April  17.  In  May,  Colonel  John  Bowman 
invaded  the  Indian  territory  in  Ohio.  After  burning  Chilli- 
cothe  and  capturing  163  horses  he  retreated.  Colonel  Rogers, 
with  seventy  men,  was  attacked  by  a  large  force  of  Indians, 
near  the  mouth  of  Licking  River,  and  only  twenty  whites 
escaped.  Several  new  settlements  were  made  this  year  in 
Kentucky.  Titles  to  land  having  become  confused  and  an- 
noying, Virginia  passed  land  laws  and  sent  a  court  of  com- 
missioners to  adjudicate  on  the  claims.  They  sat  until 
April,  1780,  settling  3,000  claims. 

Colonel  Shelby  attacked  the  Chickamauga  Indians  (Cher- 
okees)  below  the  rapids  of  the  Tennessee  River,  witli  com- 
plete success.  A  settlement  was  commenced  in  Middle  Ten- 
nessee, on  the  site  of  Nashville,  this  year. 

1780. — The  winter  of  1779  and  1780  was  extremely  severe, 
Game  in  the  woods  and  the  stock  of  the  settlers  were  often 
frozen  and  corn  sold  for  $50  to  $175  a  bushel,  in  depreciated 
Continental  money.  There  was  much  suffering.  In  June, 
a  British  and  Indian  force  of  600,  commanded  by  Colonel 
Byrd,  of  the  British  army,  crossed  the  Ohio  and  ascended 
Licking  River.  They  had  six  cannon.  Two  block-houses,  or 
stations.  Ruddle's  and  Martin's,  surrendered  at  their  approach. 


GEN.  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARKE. 


m^ 


^ 


TKIUMPHANT    VIGOR    OF    THE    SETTLERS    IN    1780.  229 

For  the  moment  there  were  not,  it  has  been  said,  over  300 
able-bodied  men  in  all  the  scattered  settlements  of  the  inte- 
rior of  Kentucky.  For  some  reason  not  explained  the  enemy 
retreated  after  these  two  conquests.  Gen.  George  Rogers 
Clarke  collected  the  settlers  and  the  troops  in  garrison  on  the 
river  and  invaded  the  Indian  country  in  Ohio,  destroying  the 
town  and  stores  of  the  Miamis,  which  checked  Indian  hos- 
tility for  the  time. 

As  soon  as  spring  opened,  a  large  immigration  down  the 
Ohio  took  place,  three  hundred  capacious  flat-boats,  with 
families  and  stock,  reaching  Louisville,  which  was  incorporated 
as  a  town,  this  year,  by  the  Legislature  of  Virginia.  Former 
settlements  increased  in  numbers  and  many  new  ones  were 
commenced,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  Louisville. 

May  26,  1780,  St.  Louis,  the  capital  of  Upper  Louisiana, 
was  attacked  by  a  large  force,  said  to  be  1,400  Indians  and 
some  English  officers  and  Canadians.  About  sixty  persons 
were  killed  and  thirty  taken  prisoners,  when  the  enemy  with- 
drew, in  fear,  it  was  said,  of  General  Clarke  then  on  the  Mis- 
sisippi  below,  or  from  meeting  with  French  friends  among  the 
citizens.  St.  Louis  had  then  nearly  1,000  inhabitants.  Clarke 
built  a  fort  this  spring,  on  the  Mississippi,  five  miles  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  The  Chickasaws,  who  claimed  that 
territory,  complained  that  their  permission  had  not  been 
asked. 

In  this  year,  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  organized  three 
counties  in  Kentucky.  In  Tennessee,  the  settlers  organized  a 
regiment  to  assist  in  repelling  the  British  who  were  endeav- 
oring to  force  Western  North  Carolina  into  submission.  They 
joined  with  the  mountaineers  of  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina and  obtained  the  complete  victory  of  King's  Mountain, 
October  7,  in  which  almost  all  the  British  troops  were  killed 
or  taken  prisoners.  This  severe  loss  was  the  turning  point  in 
the  fortunes  of  Cornwallis.  Thus,  the  "West  struck  most 
effective  blows    for   American  liberty.     A   corps   of  these 


230  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Valley  men  remained  east  of  the  mountains  to  assist  in  the 
last  campaign  in  South  Carolina,  in  the  following  year.  The 
Cherokees  again  commenced  hostilities  and  marched  on  the 
settlements.  Colonel  Sevier  met  and  defeated  them,  on 
Boyd's  Creek.  A  larger  force  being  gathered,  the  Cherokee 
towns  were  destroyed  and  the  tribe  forced  to  make  a  tempo- 
rary peace.  Emigrants  followed  this  array  to  the  French 
Broad  River  and  settlements  spread  rapidly. 

1781. — In  this  year  a  large  number  of.  unmarried  women 
emigrated  to  Kentucky  to  find  husbands  and  a  home  among 
the  multitudes  of  unmarried  men  in  that  region.  The  Chick- 
asaws  attacked  Fort  Jefierson,  on  the  Mississippi.  General 
Clarke  relieved,  but  afterward  withdrew,  the  garrison.  Col- 
onel Brodhead  led  an  expedition  from  the  upper  Ohio  on  an 
invasion  of  the  Indian  country  without  much  effect.  The 
Cherokees  continued  their  attacks  on  unguarded  settlers,  and 
their  country  was  again  invaded  and  laid  waste  by  the  Ten- 
nesseeans.  A  settlement  of  Americans  was  formed  at  Belle- 
fontaine,  Monroe  County,  Illinois,  this  year. 

1782. — Hostilities  continued  between  Tennessee  and  the 
Cherokees,  but  the  settlers  there  were  so  little  scattered  that 
they  were  able  to  rally  in  time  to  defeat  an  Indian  expedition. 

A  party  of  whites  from  Western  Pennsylvania  marched 
against  the  Moravian,  or  Christian  (Delaware)  Indians,  on  the 
Muskingum,  and  nearly  one  hundred  of  these  harmless  natives 
were  murdered,  in  cold  blood,  by  white  men!  The  inhuman 
act  was  universally  reprobated.  In  Kentucky  Gapt.  James 
Estill  was  defeated  and  killed,  March  22;  Captain  Holder, 
August  15 ;  and  Colonel  Laughery,  August  22.  Six  hundred 
Indians  and  British  besieged  (August  1.5)  Bryan's  Station, 
defended  by  fifty  or  sixty  men,  but  were  repulsed  with  a  loss 
of  thirty  men.  They  were  pursued  by  183  Kentuckians,  who 
were  defeated  with  a  loss  of  sixty-nine  killed,  twelve  wounded, 
and  seven  taken  prisoners.  It  was  a  disastrous  year  for  Ken- 
tucky.    Gen.  George  Rogers  Clarke  gathered  1,050  men,  in 


M 


undii^. 


GROWTH    AT   THE   CLOSE    OF   THE    REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.    231 

September  marched  rapidly  into  the  heart  of  the  Indian 
country,  130  miles  up  the  Miami,  destroyed  an  immense 
quantity  of  valuable  stores,  belonging  to  the  British,  and  the 
Indian  towns  and  crops.  Peace  being  arranged  between  the 
United  States  and  England  about  the  same  time,  Indian  ardor 
was  somewhat  cooled. 

1783. — Kentucky  was  made  a  Judicial  District  and  a  Dis- 
trict Court  opened. 

In  1777  Tennessee  had  been  formed  into  a  county  covering 
the  whole  state.  It  was  called  Washington.  In  1779  Sullivan 
County  was  formed;  and  the  third  and  fourth,  formed  in  this 
year  (1783),  were  called  Greene  and  Davidson.  A  flood  of 
immigration  poured  into  both  regions  at  the  close  of  the  war. 
But  one  store  had  ever  been  opened  in  Kentucky  to  this  time. 
This  year  the  second  dry  goods  store  was  established  at  Louis- 
ville, by  Col.  Daniel  Brodhead.  Some  distilleries  were  built 
this  year  in  Kentucky. 

1784. — Virginia  ceded  her  lands  northwest  of  the  Ohio  to 
the  General  Government,  and  Congress  forbid  settlement  there 
until  it  could  obtain  titles  by  treaty  and  purchase  from  the 
Indians.  A  store  was  opened  in  Le.xington  this  year.  An 
extensive  movement  toward  the  West  after  the  war,  especially 
by  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  disbanded  armies,  very  soon 
doubled  the  number  of  inhabitants,  and  nearly  all  the  choice 
lands  then  open  to  settlement  were  entered  in  the  Land  Offices. 
The  first  court  house  for  Washington  County,  Tennessee,  was 
built,  being  the  first  in  Tennessee,  and,  for  the  first  time,  a 
wagon  road  was  opened  to  the  east,  from  Ilolston  River. 

1785. — The  rivers  rose  this  spring  to  an  extraordinary  height, 
the  Mississippi  reaching  thirty  feet  above  the  highest  water 
mark  ever  known.  May  23,  a  convention  held  by  the  Ken- 
tucky settlements  urged  separation  from  Virginia,  and  the 
formation  of  an  Independent  commonwealth.  Another  con- 
vention assembled  August  8,  and  employed  still  stronger  lan- 
guage in  its  addresses  to  Virginia  and  Kentucky.     Various 


232  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

new  towns  were  founded,  and  counties  formed,  in  Kentucky. 
The  Indians  began  to  renew  their  hostilities,  and  to  murder 
scattered  settlers  in  all  parts  of  the  "West.  A  treaty  with 
them  was  concluded,  by  General  Clarke  and  others,  at  Fort 
Mcintosh,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Miami  River,  wliich,  however, 
the  Indians  did  not  respect.  They  stole,  October  26,  sixty 
horses  near  Maysville,  Kentucky. 

In  1784,  North  Carolina  made  a  conditional  cession  of 
Tennessee  to  the  Federal  Government.  That  state  had  not 
organized  the  Tennessee  settlements  with  the  thoroughness 
which  their  effective  defense  against  the  Indians  required,  nor 
was  the  United  States  Government  prepared  to  do  so.  The 
settlers  lost  patience,  called  a  convention,  adopted  a  consti- 
tution and  organized  the  •'  State  of  Franklin,"  or  Frankland. 
The  first  session  of  the  Legislature  of  this  self-constituted 
state  terminated  March  31, 1785.  North  Carolina  considered 
this  action  a  revolt,  its  Legislature  repealed  the  Act  of  Session 
and  proceeded  to  make  laws  for  the  Tennessee  counties  as 
before.  The  Tennesseeans  persisted  and  maintained  an  inde- 
pendent state  organization  for  several  years. 

The  Illinois  settlements  were  enlarged  in  1785,  and  also  in 
the  following  year,  when  Indian  hostilities  recommenced. 
Several  settlers  were  killed  and  others  taken  captive.  Gen. 
George  Rogers  Clarke  undertook  an  expedition  against  the 
Indians,  which,  from  various  causes,  accomplished  nothing. 
Colonel  Logan  raised  about  500  men,  penetrated  the  Shawnee 
country,  laid  waste  eight  towns,  and  killed  and  captured 
about  a  hundred  warriors,  with  a  loss  of  but  ten  men.  Spain 
refused  the  demand  of  the  American  Government  to  permit 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi ;  some  of  the  Eastern 
statesmen  were  inclined  to  acquiesce,  to  the  great  discontent 
of  the  settlers  in  the  Valley,  who  seemed  inclined,  in  that  case, 
to  set  up  a  separate  government.  But  patriotism  and  good 
sense  were  not  wanting  to  both  parties  and  violent  ill-feeling 
subsided  in  a  few  months.     The   '•  Pittsburgh  Gazette,''^  the 


A    NEW    PERIOD    OF   GEOWTH    COMMENCED.  233 

first  paper  published  in  the  Valley,  issued  its  first  number 
July  29,  1786. 

The  immigration  now  nuinhered  yearly,  from  two  to  four 
thousand  persons,  and  it  is  said  that  20,000  troops  could  have 
been  raised  west  of  the  mountains. 

The  Cherokees  continued  to  murder  settlers  and  another 
expedition  against  them  held  them  somewhat  in  cheek. 

1787. — A  convention  of  Kentuckians  assembled  at  Dan- 
ville, the  capital,  to  confer  in  regard  to  the  closing  of  the 
Mississippi.  Finding  that  the  General  Government  insisted 
on  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  American  settlers  in  the 
Valley,  and  was  disposed  to  defend  them  against  Spain, 
they  quietly  dispersed.  General  Wilkinson  went  to  New 
Orleans  with  tobacco  and  other  produce  and  obtained  per- 
mission from  the  Spanish  Governor  to  transport,  free  of  duty, 
on  his  ovn\  account,  all  the  products  of  Kentucky. 

The  "  Kentucky  Gazette"  was  now  estal)lished  at  Lexing- 
ton, being  the  first  newspaper  in  the  state  and  the  second  in 
the  West.  The  settlements  in  Middle  Tennessee,  on  the 
Cumberland,  had  grown  rapidly,  but  were  much  harassed  by 
the  Cherokees  and  Creeks.  An  expedition  against  them  from 
Nashville  this  year,  checked  their  ravages.  The  Ohio  Indians 
were  constantly  hostile,  killing  and  taking  prisoners  many 
of  the  Kentuckians.  The  "  Ohio  Company  "  was  formed, 
in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  1786,  and,  in  this  year,  purchased 
one  million  and  a  half  acres  in  Ohio,  to  which  private  specu- 
lations of  men  eminent  in  public  position  added  three  and 
a  half  millions  more,  and  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
acres  were  granted  as  bounties  to  soldiers  and  actual  settlers. 
The  Ohio  Company  organized  beforehand  a  local  govern- 
ment and  made  all  ari-angements  for  a  vigorous  settlement. 
Congress  provided  for  the  general  government  of  the  whole 
territory  in  the  famous  "  Ordinance  "  of  this  year.  General 
St.  Clair  was  appointed  Governor,  and  700  troops  were 
ordered  to  the  West,  for  the  defense  of  the  settlers. 


234  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

1788.— The  "State  of  Franklin"  by  this  time  began  to 
lose  its  vitality.  North  Carolina  had  pursued  a  firm  but 
conciliatory  policy,  and,  early  in  this  yenr,  the  unauthorized 
government  broke  down  and  disappeared.  Serious  trouble 
with  the  Indians  continued  everywhere.  Tiie  Creeks  were  at 
war  with  the  people  of  Georgia  and  massacred  the  border 
settlers  without  mercy.  • 

The  7tli  April,  1788,  is  memorable  as  the  day  when  the 
first  permanent  settlement  was  made  in  Ohio,  by  an  advance 
party  sent  by  the  "  Ohio  Company  "  to  prepare,  at  Marietta, 
on  the  Ohio,  at  tlie  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  a  fort  and 
houses  for  the  families  that  were  to  follow.  Many  thousand 
settlers  pushed  their  way  across  the  mountains  this  year. 

Two  other  settlements  were  formed  in  Ohio  in  1788,  one  being 
at  Cincinnati.  The  Spanish  authorities  at  New  Orleans,  and 
the  Spanish  Minister  to  the  United  States,  in  this  year  sought 
to  detach  the  Valley  from  the  Union,  urging  Kentucky  to 
declare  herself  independent,  offering  many  advantages  of  com- 
merce and  trade  to  a  newgovermnent;  but,  with  all  the  disad- 
vantages of  distance,  great  difficulty  in  communication  with  the 
Atlantic  States,  and  the  ineffectual  protection  afforded  by  the 
Republic  to  the  frontiers,  constantly  laid  waste  by  the  Indians, 
the  people  remained  fairly  loyal  to  the  Union. 

1789. — In  this  and  the  following  year  eight  different  settle- 
ments were  made  in  Ohio.  Kentucky  was  more  liarassed  by 
Indians  than  Ohio  at  this  time.  In  this  year  the  eighth  Ken- 
tucky Convention  was  held,  in  relation  to  the  formation  of  a 
state,  and  Virginia  passed  her  fourth  Act  of  Separation. 
There  was  opposition  in  Congress  to  its  immediate  admission, 
the  northern  representatives  desiring  Vermont,  a  free  state,  to 
be  admitted  at  the  same  time. 

1790. — A  ninth  convention  accepted  the  conditions  of  Vir- 
ginia for  separation,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  t!ie 
admission  of  Kentucky  as  a  sovereign  state  in  1792.  The 
population  was  now  73,677;  of  which  61,133  were  white,  114 


THE    FIRST    STATE    ORGANIZED    IN   THE    VALLEY.  235 

free  colored,  12,430  slaves.  The  whole  Valley  had  about 
200,000  inhabitants.  General  Harmar  marched  against  the 
Indians  but  was  unsuccessful. 

Tennessee  received  a  Territorial  Government  in  this  year, 
William  Blount  being  appointed  Governor  by  President 
Washington.     Tennessee  had  about  37,000  people. 

1791. — The  entire  frontier,  from  the  Mississippi  to  Pitts- 
burgh and  Georgia,  was  harassed  by  the  Indians,  and  prepa- 
rations were  made  to  chastise  them. 

In  February  Congress  agreed  to  admit  Kentucky  as  a  state, 
June  1,  1792.  In  May  Gen.  Charles  Scott  marched  against 
the  Indians  with  800  men  (Kentuckians),  defeated  them  sev- 
eral times  and  destroyed  several  towns.  In  August  Colonel 
Wilkinson  led  a  similar  expedition  toward  the  Wabash  with 
similar  results.  Governor  St.  Clair,  the  General-in-Chief, 
•with  an  army  of  1,400  men,  was  totally  defeated  farther  in 
the  interior,  November  4 — 890  men  and  sixteen  officers  being 
killed  and  wounded. 

November  5,  1791,  tlie  first  newspaper  was  published  in 
Tennessee,  called  The  Knoxville  Gazette.  The  town  of  Knox- 
ville  was  laid  out  in  this  year. 

1792. — June  1,  Kentucky  I)ecame  a  state,  and  on  the  4th  the 
new  Legislature  met.  A  new  army  was  gathered  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  frontiers;  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne  was  appointed 
commander,  and  spent  a  year  in  drilling  it.  Frankfort  became 
the  capitol  of  Kentucky,  and  sevei-al  towns  were  fcninded  in 
that  state,  this  year.  Colonel  Hardin  and  Major  Truman,  peace 
commissioners  to  the  Indians,  were  killed.  X()\ember  6,  Maj. 
Adair,  commanding  100  men,  was  defeated,  near  Eaton,  Ohio. 

February  17,  1793,  General  McGillivray,  a  half  blood,  and 
chief  of  the  .Creeks,  a  man  of  education  and  great  abilities, 
died.  His  rank  as  General  was  conferi-ed  by  AVashington. 
He  received  salaries  from  both  the  United  States  and  Spain, 
was  an  astute  diplomatist,  and  very  wealthy.  The  Tennessee 
ans  and  Georgians  waged  a  bloody  war  with  the  Cherokees 


236  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  Creeks.  The  last  Indian  invasions  of  Kentucky  occurred 
this  year.  General  "Wayne  did  not  get  ready  for  his  grand 
expedition  until  the  season  was  too  far  past  for  a  campaign, 
and  deferred  it  to  the  coming  year.  November  9,  the  first 
newspaper  in  Ohio  was  established  at  Cincinnati.  It  was  called 
The,  Sentinel  of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  Kentucky  was 
actively  organizing  its  State  Government.  Many  new  settle- 
ments were  commenced,  especially  south  of  the  Ohio.  Tlie 
Ohio  settlers  were  in  constant  danger  from  the  Indians. 

1794. — Governor  Simcoe,  of  Upper  Canada,  erected  an  Eng- 
lish Fort  at  the  rapids  of  the  Maumee,  in  April  of  this  year; 
agents  of  Spain  stimulated  the  Indians  to  hostility  to  the 
United  States,  and  French  agents  endeavored  to  organize  an 
expedition  among  the  Kentuckians  to  attack  New  Orleans. 
The  growing  importance  of  the  United  States  in  the  Great 
Valley  became  more  and  more  evident  each  year.  The  gen- 
eral government,  through  179.3,  made  every  effort  to  procure  a 
peaceable  settlement  with  the  Indians,  which  was  one  reason 
for  the  delay  of  General  Wayne's  attack;  but  the  Indians 
insisted  on  the  withdrawal  of  all  settlers  to  the  south  of  the 
Ohio,  and  effective  negotiations  failed. 

July  26, 1600  Kentucky  volunteers  joined  General  "Wayne's 
army,  and,  August  20,  he  defeated  an  Indian  force  of  2,000, 
after  an  hour's  tight,  and  pursued  them  two  miles,  up  to  the 
guns  of  the'  British  Fort.  The  battle  ground  was  eleven 
miles  southwest  of  Toledo.  The  Americans  had  thirty-three 
killed  and  100  wounded. 

For  fourteen  years  the  inhabitants  of  Middle  Tennessee  had 
been  constantly  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  Cherokees  and 
Creeks.  In  numerous  expeditions  they  had  retaliated  and 
preserved  their  settlements  from  total  destruction.  On  the 
13th  of  September,  1794,  the  inhabitants — who  had  been  more 
than  usually  harassed,  many  families  and  individuals  having 
been  killed,  and  nearly  all  the  horses  in  Middle  Tennessee 
stolen — assembled  to  chastise   them,  invaded  the  Cherokee 


FINAL    CLOSE    OF    THE    OLD    INDIAN    WAKS.  237 

towns,  and  fought  a  decisive  battle,  which  procured  a  toler- 
able state  of  peace,  lasting  until  the  war  of  1812.  In  this 
year  a  Territorial  Assembly  was  tirst  elected.  It  met  at 
Knoxville,  in  February. 

The  General  Government  had  much  difficulty  in  restraining 
the  tide  of  immigration  on  all  the  borders  within  the  limits  of 
purchases  made  from  the  Indians.  The  Georgians,  especially, 
constantly  pressed  on  the  Creeks.  Georgia  claimed  the  whole 
territory  lying  west  of  it  to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  made 
treaties  and  sales  of  land  in  defiance  of  the  Federal  authori- 
ties, and  to  the  intense  disgust  and  rage  of  the  Creeks.  In 
this  year  Georgia  sold  large  sections  of  Alabama  and  Missis- 
sippi to  various  land  companies.  The  contracts  were  repealed 
by  the  next  Legislature,  but  many  hundreds  of  settlers  had- 
spread  over  portions  of  the  lands.  These  held  their  ground, 
laying  the  permanent  foundations  of  settlements  in  the  terri- 
tory, afterwards  erected  into  those  states  ;  but,  unhappily, 
the  discontent  of  the  Creeks,  restrained  for  some  years,  and 
then  inflamed  by  Tecumseh,  produced  the  terrible  retaliation 
of  the  Creek  War  of  1813  and  1814. 

1795. —  The  old  Indian  Wars  were  now  brought  to  a  close. 
August  3,  all  the  tribes  of  the  Upper  Valley  signed  a  treaty, 
at  Greenville,  Ohio,  which  continued  in  force  until  1811,  when 
Tecumseh  united  the  tribes  for  another  effort  to  preserve  their 
hunting  grounds. 

With  this  year  closed  the  perils  from  the  Indians  on  the 
Ohio  and  its  tributaries.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  present 
state  of  Ohio  was  now  open  to  peaceful  settlement.  Forts 
and  settlements  in  Indiana  on  the  Ohio,  Wabash,  and  Mau- 
mee  Rivers  offered  further  security  to  Kentucky  and  Ohio, 
but  the  Indians  were  completely  cowed,  for  the  present,  and 
heroism  had  henceforth  only  nature  and  the  want  of  markets 
to  struggle  against. 

It  is  remarkably  characteristic  of  the  native  American  that 
this  deadly  struggle  had  no  depressing  effect,  but,  on  the  con- 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY, 

trary,  was  a  liealthy  stimulus  to  the  new  settlers.  Every  blow 
was  returned  with  interest,  all  distress  and  trial  was  borne 
without  mui'muring,  and  the  axe,  the  hoe,  or  the  rifle  were 
used  in  turn  with  equal  cheerfulness  and  resolution.  But  it 
left  a  deep  impression  on  the  character  of  the  people,  which 
was  intensified  and  developed  by  later  circiimstances  and 
events. 

This  period  has  been  presented  in  the  form  of  a  condensed 
chronicle,  to  indicate  the  more  important  of  the  events  that 
crowded  it  with  excitement  and  showed  the  heroic  daring  of 
the  first  settlers.  A  detailed  narrative  would  require  too 
much  space. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

WHOLESALE    SETTLEMENT    UNDER    DIFFICULTIES. 

Kentucky  became  an  independent  State  just  before  the  close 
of  the  Indian  War,  and  Tennessee  just  after.  The  early  explo- 
rations had  been  made  under  imminent  danger.  Indeed,  many 
of  the  first  companions  of  Boone  fell  under  the  Indian  gun  or 
tomahawk  before  he  took  his  family  into  the  dangerous  wild- 
erness. Cabins  were  raised  and  cornfields  cleared,  planted 
and  gathered  while  the  exasperated  Mingo  chief,  Logan,  was 
taking  a  terrible  vengeance  for  the  brutal  murder  of  his  fam- 
ily, and  the  year  following  Kentucky  received  500  settlers. 
These  were  the  two  Heroic  States.  The  birth  of  their  settle- 
ments occurred  while  the  thunder  of  commencing  war  was 
rolling,  peal  after  peal,  from  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  to 
Savannah,  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  Their  youth  was  passed 
under  constant  attacks  from  the  Ohio  Indians  on  the  north  and 
tlie  Cherokees  and  Creeks  on  the  south.  In  the  meantime  the 
new  born  states  of  the  coast  had  their  hands  abundantly  full  in 
asserting  independence  of  the  strongest  maritine  power  in  the 
world,  whose  attacks  were  invited  by  a  long  line  of  unprotected 
coast. 

The  heroes  of  the  wilderness  did  not  emigrate  to  fight  the 
Indians,  they  would  gladly  have  kept  the  peace,  but  their 
presence,  and  especially  their  agricultural  clearings  and  com- 
fortable log  cabins,  which  indicated  an  intention  to  stay,  were 
regarded  by  the  tribes  as  a  declaration  of  war.  They  could 
hope  for  no  certain  aid  from  the  other  side  of  the  mountains. 
They  might  feel  happy  if  they  could  obtain  powder  and  ball 
to  protect  themselves.  "  But  none  of  these  things  moved 
them."  The  fruitful  soil,  and  sunny  bottoms,  and  shady 
slopes  drew  them  with  an  irresistible  attraction.     All  that 

239 


2-iO  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

was  dear  and  valuable  to  them  was  in  constant  danger  of  sud- 
den ruin  from  a  foe  that  knew  no  pity  and  spared  neither  the 
harmless  child,  the  helpless  woman,  nor  the  property  he  could 
not  carry  away.  They  were  ever  ready  for  a  stout  defense,  to 
strike  a  quick,  sharp  blow  and  then  to  offer  peace,  that  they 
might  resume  the  axe  and  the  hoe.  They  were  neither  fierce, 
revengeful  nor  melancholy.  They  bore  up  hardily  against 
ill  fortune,  and  cheerfully,  even  gaily,  enjoyed  all  the  good 
they  could  win  and  whatever  sunshine  fell  to  their  lot.  So 
the  deeply  tried  pioneers  held  their  ground,  sent  cheerful  hails 
back  across  the  mountains,  and  thousands,  kindred  to  them  in 
cheerful  resolution  and  contempt  of  danger  because  they  were 
strong  in  the  hope  soon  to  become  prosperous  farmers,  con- 
stantly joined  them. 

"Want  of  a  standing  body  of  soldiers  to  watch  and  ward 
off  danger,  want  of  means,  and  even  of  weapons  and  muni- 
tions of  war,  want  of  organization  and  authority  to  act  when 
action  was  pressingly  required,  added  unspeakably  to  their 
difficulties  and  calamities  through  the  whole  period.  By  the 
time  these  embarrassments  were  overcome  through  the  state 
organizations,  which  permitted  efficient  action  and  prevision 
in  their  own  behalf,  the  danger  was  over.  They  had  borne 
patiently  the  fearful  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  and  now 
they  were  at  liberty  to  care  for  their  individual,  social  and 
political  interests  without  disturbance.  The  best  lands  had 
already  been  taken  up,  their  healthy,  bold  and  hardy  children 
were  thronofine;  around  them  and  immigration  began  to  fill 
up  all  the  corners  and  gaps  between  their  settlements. 

The  new  lands  beyond  the  Ohio  were  now  opened  and  the 
great  and  promising  West  began  to  attract  New  England. 
But  the  "  Old  Settlers,"  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  who  had 
cleared  the  way  for  two  lusty  yoiing  commonwealths,  were 
still  the  heroes  of  toil,  privation  and  labor.  They  hurried 
across  the  Ohio  by  thousands  to  commence  anew  on  a  still 
richer  soil  and  under  more  favorable  circumstances,  and  gave 


THE   TOILS    OF    THE    EMIGRANTS.  241 

an  important  degree  of  tone  and  direction  to  the  new  common- 
wealths of  the  Northwest.  For  twenty-five  years  settlement 
was  to  proceed  under  great  difficulties.  There  were  no  roads 
to  the  East;  for  ten  years  the  Mississippi  was  practically 
closed  to  trade,  and  when  the  vast  Louisiana  territory  was 
acquired  and  the  Mississippi  was  all  their  o\vti,  the  transpor- 
tation and  the  markets  in  that  direction  were  quite  as  inade- 
quate to  the  needs  of  the  large  population  then  gathered  in 
the  upper  Valley  as  in  former  years.  There  was  still  abund- 
ant opportunity  to  struggle  with  difficulty,  for  everything 
necessary  to  the  development  of  a  vast  region  and  a  civilized 
people  was  yet  to  be  created.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  as 
lying  further  east  and  now  comparatively  old  regions,  were  in 
the  best  circumstances. 

In  seven  years  from  the  close  of  the  Indian  War,  the  North- 
west Territory  had  gained  at  least  75.000  inhabitants,  besides 
those  previously  there,  those  who  had  been  born,  and  those 
who  had  died.  A  large  part  of  these  had  crossed  the  moun- 
tains; many  of  them  had  traveled  nearly  one  thousand  miles 
from  their  starting  point,  over  roads  rude  and  poor,  even  in 
the  settled  part  of  the  East,  but  for  the  last  few  hundred  miles, 
indescribably  rough  and  difficult.  Perhaps  an  average  of 
fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  crossed  the  mountains  to  difi'erent 
parts  of  the  Valley  each  year.  With  infinite  patience  and 
toil  they  climbed  and  descended  the  steep  ridges,  and  labored 
across  the  levels  through  deep  ruts  and  mudholes,  and  then  had 
some  hundreds  of  miles  farther  to  travel,  often  through  a 
pathless  wilderness. 

Only  the  most  indispensable  articles  could  be  transported 
so  far,  and  when  the  journey's  end  was  reached,  they  were  at 
the  beginning  of  a  mighty  task.  The  heavy  forests  were  to 
be  painfully  laid  low,  and  then  their  branches  and  trunks 
must  be  disposed  of;  the  houses  and  barns  were  to  be  built; 
the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  life  were  to  be  created,  with- 
in and  without.  Nearly  all  this  must  be  the  work  of  their 
16 


242  THE    MISSIStSIl'I'I    VALI.KY. 

hands,  for  iilthougli  the  virgin  soil  would  readily  give  them 
abundance  of  surjdus  grain,  there  was  little  market  for  it  at  any 
price.  Difficulty  and  distance  made  exchanges  with  the  out- 
side world  nearly  impossible.  A  little  found  its  way  to  New 
Orleans;  a  little  filtered  across  the  mountains  to  the  Eastern 
seaboard;  and  thousands  of  incoming  settlers,  who  were  to  be 
supplied  for  a  year  or  more,  with  the  mechanics  and  traders 
of  the  towns,  made  a  small  local  market.  As  a  rule,  rude 
comforts  were  abundant  and  luxuries  very  difficult  of  attain- 
ment— when  known  at  all. 

As  the  years  wore  away,  however,  the  arts  of  the  East  were 
gradually  introduced,  the  new  became  old,  and  difficulties 
were  more  or  less  overcome,  although  the  plenty  itself  became 
an  increasing  embarrassment;  for  the  cultivated  areas  of  pro- 
ductive soil  enlarged  more  than  the  markets  they  could  reach. 
The  attraction  of  the  West  had  been  such  that  when  the  nine- 
teenth century  opened  the  population  of  the  Valley,  all  told, 
was  not  far  from  half  a  million — two  thirds  of  which  was  in 
the  upper  Valley.  During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  century 
the  increase  was  very  large  indeed,  for,  by  the  census,  the  pop- 
ulation was,  in  1810,  about  1,300,000.  Ohio  and  Kentucky 
had  received  more  than  half  of  this  increase;  Tennessee  and 
Mississippi  about  as  much  together  as  Kentucky;  Indiana, 
Missouri  and  Louisiana  together  about  100,000;  Illinois 
about  10,000,  and  Michigan  probably  1,500.  Population  was 
largely  concentrated  near  the  rivers,  especially  the  Ohio, 
whose  shores  began  to  bear  the  appearance  of  a  long-settled 
region.  The  resolute  energy  of  the  people  soon  introduced 
order  and  all  the  improvements  within  the  reach  of  labor. 
Much  money  was  invested  from  the  East,  or  found  its  way  up 
the  Mississippi. 

And  now  followed  three  years  of  war,  full  of  apprehension 
on  the  borders  where  the  Indians  still  held  their  lands  and 
resolved  to  make  a  final  stand  under  Tecumseh,  aided  by  the 
English  Government,  against  further  loss  by  treaty  or  force. 


THE    WAR    REWOTES    BARRIERS   TO    PROGRESS.  243 

Again  it  was  dangerous  to  be  found  in  the  woods  alone  in 
Indiana,  Illinois  and  Northern  Ohio,  or  to  build  the  log 
cabin  distant  from  strong  settlements.  Yet  it  had  become  the 
habit  to  organize,  and  territorial  officers  were  at  hand  to  take 
the  initiative  and  guard  the  points  of  danger.  The  population 
of  the  East  was  still  eager  to  get  to  the  Land  of  Plenty  and 
Hope,  and,  as  before,  war  did  not  prevent  immigration,  and 
the  more  that  it  was  the  war  of  the  Government  in  a  somewhat 
diiferent  sense  from  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Teciimseh's 
wider  plans  among  the  Western  tribes  were  a  failure  from  the 
first.  The  battles  were  fouglit  by  the  regular  soldiers  and 
their  presence,  and  the  expenditure  of  Government  funds  in 
the  West,  made  an  unusually  favorable  opportunity  for 
the  sale  of  produce.  The  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  cities 
was  dried  up  by  the  war  on  the  ocean,  and  distress  fell  on  the 
East,  while  the  old  plenty  still  reigned  in  the  West.  The 
land  victories  of  the  war  by  Western  generals  about  Lake 
Erie  and  at  New  Orleans,  the  death  of  Tecumseli  and  the 
complete  subjugation  of  the  Creeks,  filled  the  men  of  the 
Valley  with  pride  and  enthusiasm  and  reflected  honor  on  the 
West  and  the  South. 

Pointless  and  unsatisfactory  as  was  the  close  of  the  war 
with  England,  in  some  respects,  it  was  a  complete  triumph  to 
the  Valley  by  removing  effectually  the  old  barriers  to  advance- 
ment. The  Indians  of  the  eastern  Valley  gave  up  the 
attempt  to  stem  the  tide  of  aggression  and  consented  to  the 
sale  of  such  lands  as  were  required  for  settlement.  The  wild 
lands  of  the  West  had  been  repeatedly  traversed  by  soldiers, 
and  otherwise  more  completely  studied;  the  Government  and 
eastern  people  now  fully  comprehended  that  the  body  of 
wealth  and  the  greatest  sources  of  prosperity  and  power  lay 
in  the  West;  and  a  fever  for  improvements  that  should  make 
it  more  accessible  grew  fast.  The  road  from  Philadelphia  to 
Pittsburgh  was  improved.  A  great  national  road,  called  the 
Cumberland,  opened  the  way  from  the  southeast  far  into  the 


244:  THE    MISSISSIPI'I    VALLEY. 

Valley;  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal  was  begun;  steamers 
began  to  ply  on  the  rivers  ;  Ohio  soon  undertook  to  connect 
the  river  on  the  south  with  the  lake  on  the  north;  and  other 
improvements  began  to  smooth  the  great  difficulties  to  immi- 
gration and  prosperity  in  the  northwest.  Since  1810,  Ohio 
had  increased  her  population,  according  to  the  census  of  1820, 
by  200,000;  Indiana  and  Illinois  had  become  states,  and  Mis- 
souri was  only  waiting  the  final  act  of  graduation.  The  great 
work  of  opening  the  newer  parts  of  the  country  was  still  done, 
however,  under  difficulties  quite  unknown  at  later  periods. 

The  lower  Valley  had  wonderfully  prospered  in  settlement 
since  the  Louisiana  purchase.  Settlements  had  penetrated 
Alabama  from  Mobile  up  the  rivers  from  the  south,  and  as  an 
extension  of  those  of  Middle  Tennessee  on  the  north.  In 
1810  there  were  10,000  or  more  whites  and  negroes  in 
Alabama  ;  Mississippi  had  grown  greatly  both  from  the 
Gulf  and  the  River;  Louisiana  had  become  a  state  in  1812. 
Access  to  these  regions  was  not  so  difficult  as  to  the  upper 
Valley.  The  borders,  and  parts  of  the  interior,  were  reached 
from  the  sea  and  from  the  upper  Valley  by  the  Great  River, 
while  no  mountains  separated  them  from  the  Atlantic  coast. 
When  the  hostility  of  the  Creeks  was  overcome,  and  the 
Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  became  willing  to  sell  large  tracts 
of  their  lands,  government  roads  had  been  long  built  toward 
the  east,  over  which  the  cheerful  and  patriarchal  planters  of 
Virginia,  the  twoCarolinas  and  Georgia  had  passed  with  their 
troops  of  servants,  herds  and  flocks,  and  their  comfortable 
furniture.  Settling  largely  along  the  rivers,  navigable  to  the 
Gulf,  they  had  less  difficulty  in  finding  a  market  for  their 
productions  as  they  began  to  grow  in  volume;  cotton,  sugar 
and  rice  were  profitable,  because  confined  to  that  climate,  and 
they  only  needed  the  result  of  Jackson's  conflict  with  the 
Creeks  to  render  them  wealthy  and  strong  from  Louisiana  to 
Georgia.  Mississippi  and  Alabama  became  states  before  1820, 
and  since  1810  the  emigrants  to  the  "'Louisiana  Purchase," 


GREAT  SPREAD  OF  SETTLEMENTS  AFTER  THE  WAR.    245 

who  had  crossed  the  Mississippi  River  to  seek  homes,  iiuin- 
bered  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 

Thus  the  close  of  the  war  in  1815  dated  the  dawn  of  a  new 
era,  tliough  it  was  not  fully  opened  till  about  1820.  Difficul- 
ties, however,  were  not  regarded.  The  people  of  the  East 
were  eager  to  reach  and  develop  the  treasures  in  the  glo- 
rious agricultural  Valley  that  had  waited  so  many  thousand 
years  to  be  thoroughly  comprehended.  They  and  the  Valley 
were  perfectly  matched  at  last. 

In  1820  the  Valley  had  nearly  the  same  population  as  the 
thirteen  colonies  when,  in  1769,  Tennessee  received  her  lirst 
settlers — or  2,500,000.  Indiana  and  Alabama  had  each  re- 
ceived about  100,000  since  1815  ;  Illinois,  about  40,000 ; 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  each  about  150,000 — Tennessee 
this  time  leading  in  the  number,  perhaps  from  the  larger 
emigration  from  Kentucky  across  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi; 
but  both  contributed  largely  to  the  increase  of  newer  regions. 
They  two,  with  Ohio,  sent  at  least  100,000  to  set  an  example  of 
bold  and  strong,  if  uncouth,  frontier  virtues  to  the  settlers  of 
the  prairies  from  older  states  beyond  the  mountains. 

Thus,  after  the  war  there  was  a  sudden  difi'usion  of  settle- 
ment, led,  perhaps,  by  the  mania  for  speculation  as  much  as  by 
the  more  moderate  desire  for  a  home  and  property  in  a  soil 
each  farm  on  which  was  worth  a  gold  mine.  Towns  sprang 
up  as  by  magic,  and  he  who  secured  the  location  before  its 
future  could  be  generally  comprehended  became  at  once  a 
rich  man  through  the  rise  in  the  value  of  the  lands.  This 
spirit  has  often  been  ridiculed  by  people  from  more  staid  com- 
munities whose  age  of  rapid  growth  was  long  past,  but  they 
must  be  a  very  careless  and  thriftless  people  who  are  so  insen- 
sible to  the  love  of  gain  as  not  to  be  moved  by  such  wonderful 
opportunities.  It  had,  indeed,  some  disagreeable  and  demor- 
alizing features;  but  they  were  displayed  quite  as  much  by 
shrewd  men  who  lived  by  their  wits  in  the  East  as  by  actual 
residents  in  the  Valley. 


246  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Transportation  on  the  rivers  still  continued  to  be  chiefly  by 
flatboats,  keelboats  and  barges,  of  rude  and  cheap  construc- 
tion, floated  down  by  the  current  and  propelled  against  it  from 
below  by  the  stout  and  muscular  arms  of  hardy  men.  They 
were  often  of  large  size,  containing  one  or  more  families  with 
their  household  goods,  farm  implements,  stock  and  more  or  less 
provisions  if  they  were  going  to  the  backwoods.  These  fam- 
ily boats  were  of  all  sizes,  and  made  the  great  water  highway 
an  enlivening  spectacle.  But  multitudes  of  flatboats  were 
loaded  with  farm  produce,  which  was  taken  down  to  New 
Orleans  for  sale,  the  boats  there  broken  up  for  lumber,  and 
the  crews  journeyed  back  by  lighter  boats,  by  land,  or,  in  the 
later  years,  by  steamboat.  These  flatboats  continued  to  be  in 
use  until  the  days  of  railways,  notwithstanding  the  multipli- 
cation of  steamboats.  They  were  cheap,  grain  and  other  pro- 
duce from  the  upper  Valley  was  low  in  price  and  time  was 
not  so  valuable  to  men  then  as  now.  They  counted  many 
thousands  almost  up  to  1S50. 

This  gave  rise  to  a  class  of  boatmen  for  whom  a  rude  life 
had  attractions,  who  were  often  b-^isterously  rough  and  some- 
times criminally  violent,  among  the  quiet  river  towns;  but 
usually  they  were  so  under  the  influence  of  careless  merri- 
ment rather  than  malice.  Boisterous  joke,  and  jest,  and  song 
echoed  from  the  river  banks  from  Fittsburo'h  to  New  Orleans. 
It  was  the  unpolished,  but  free  and  essentially  just  and  manly, 
opening  of  a  new  phase  of  human  experience — a  new  nation 
was  displaying  the  lusty  vigor  of  its  youth  and  developing,  in 
unrestrained  and  uncultured  fullness,  the  leading  characteris- 
tics of  the  future  in  the  generous  and  STuiling  Valley. 

The  efforts  and  expenditures  of  the  General  Government, 
of  States,  and  of  private  M'ealth  and  enterp.-ise  gradually 
ameliorated  the  difficulties  of  the  ju'imitive  times  of  settle- 
ment. But  at  the  close  of  the  war,  forty  years  after  the 
strong  commencement  of  the  stream  of  immigrat-on  had 
fully  settled  the  fact  that  the  West  was  to  1^  >ninndia-tely 


SOCIAL    HABITS    OF    THE    PIONEERS    IN    1816.  247 

occupied  by  Anglo-Americans,  the  life  of  the  people  was  still 
that  of  pioneers,  buried  in  the  heart  of  the  continent.  In 
1816  there  were  no  markets  to  speak  of  but  those  supplied 
by  the  people  themselves  and  the  vast  immigration.  Luxury 
and  elegance  were  to  be  found,  to  some  extent,  in  the  towns 
where  outside  wealth  had  surmounted  all  difficulties,  and 
ingenious  skill  had  created  comfort  in  a  still  wider  circle;  but 
among  the  people  at  large  the  early  difficulties  still  remained. 
Food  was  abundant  and  the  more  substantial  requirements  of 
life  were  nowhere  lacking.  A  primitive  simplicity  and  iiearti- 
ness  reigned.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  as  the  longest  settled, 
the  most  inured  to  deprivation  of  the  thousand  accessories  of 
prosperous  social  life  in  older  countries,  furnish  the  strongest 
picture.  All  that  grain  and  vegetables,  the  game  of  the  forests 
and  the  herds,  flocks  and  poultry  yards  could  furnish,  were 
enjoyed  in  unlimited  abundance.  To  these  add  lisli  from  the 
streams,  the  products  of  the  dairy,  wild  and  cultivated  fruit, 
with  maple  or  New  Orleans  sugar  as  a  rarity,  and  tlie  kitchen 
may  be  considered  richly  supplied  with  the  healthiest  and 
the  best  materials  for  the  table.  No  necessities  of  economy 
restrained  hospitality;  a  frank,  cheerful  and  independent 
spirit  had  largely  abolished  the  idea  of  social  distinctions 
except  between  the  white  and  the  black;  the  difficulties  of 
beginnings  were  past  and  the  situation  did  not  yet  permit 
much  opportunity  of  large  acquisitions  from  agriculture. 
Therefore  there  was  little  to  check  social  intercourse,  there 
was  leisure,  abundance,  and  general  sympathy  to  promote  it. 

The  social  habits  of  the  times  were  unrivaled,  perhaps,  in 
any  time  or  place,  for  geniality  and  heartiness.  This  was  a 
general  tone  through  all  the  Valley,  varied  north  of  the  Ohio 
by  the  more  thrifty  and  provident  habits  of  the  New  England 
settlers,  whom,  yet,  the  peculiar  circumstances  inclined  to 
greater  openness  of  heart  and  hand  than  accorded  witli  their 
ordinary  habit.  Dangers,  privations,  hopes  and  plenty  shared 
together,  while  yet  the  elements  of  society  were  uuclassitied, 


24S  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

produced  singularly  pleasant  intercourse.  This  was  often  in- 
tensiiied  by  its  rarity  in  a  region  so  large,  where  farms  and 
settlements  were  frequently  separated  by  great  distances. 
Churches  and  religious  organizations  were  rare,  and  great 
gatherings  in  "  camp-meetings"  became  a  feature  of  the  Cen- 
tral Valley.  These  were  held  in  the  delightful  forests,  and 
gathered  all  the  inhabitants,  to  the  number,  sometimes,  of 
many  thousands,  from  great  distances  around.  They,  in  part, 
served  the  purposes  of  social  meetings  and  of  tlie  politician, 
who  courted  acquaintance  and  public  favor,  as  well  as  of  the 
earnestly  religious.  Social  life  had  then  its  Golden  Period. 
It  was  never  more  free  from  the  deceptions,  hollow  appear- 
ances and  envies  of  an  older  country.  Dress  was  simple,  in- 
expensive, and  chiefly  homespun;  manners  were  truly  cordial 
and  free,  and  life  was  so  healthy  that  there  was  comjjaratively 
little  vice.  It  was  the  frank,  open,  generous  youth  of  society, 
before  the  cares,  ambitions  and  antagonisms  of  later  life  have 
begun. 

This  condition  was  very  gradually  changed  in  after  years, 
though  the  locality  was  subject  to  constant  transfer.  The 
towns  were  already  much  like  Eastern  towns,  and  society 
there  was  more  or  less  collected  around  natural  centers. 
Character  and  condition  had  begun  the  work  of  analysis  and 
separation.  The  introduction  of  steam  on  the  rivers,  the 
spread  of  a  speculating  mania,  and  the  gradual  withdrawal  of 
the  wealthy,  educated  and  ambitious  into  social  coteries  by 
themselves,  soon  raised  distinctions,  in  the  older  regions,  but 
community  of  feeling  and  free  hospitality  traveled  westward 
with  the  new  settlements. 

By  1820  the  dej)ression  of  the  war,  the  increase  of  steam- 
boats on  the  rivers,  and  the  opening  of  other  channels  of  com- 
munication, had  raised  the  number  of  recent  settlers  above 
that  of  the  older  residents,  and  considerably  modiiied  the 
character  of  pioneer  life.  The  poor  of  Europe  flocked  in.  the 
educated  youtli  of  the  East,  who  hoped  for  more  rapid  advance- 


THE    SOCIAL    PROBLEMS    OF   THE    VALLEY.  249 

ment,  came  West,  with  enterprising  men  of  business,  who 
looked  forward  here  to  larger  fortunes  more  easily  made. 
What  would  become  of  this  medlej^  of  people  of  such  diverse 
training,  habits  and  character?  The  question  was  often  asked 
by  the  philanthropist  and  statesman  with  much  anxiety. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE    STEAMBOAT    ERA. 


The  feeling  of  isolation  in  the  upper  Valley  from  the  mar- 
kets of  the  East  grew  as  the  immigration  became  wholesale. 
Not  only  was  the  distance  to  tidewater  towns  across  the  moun- 
tains far  more  difficult  to  pass  than  that  across  the  Atlantic 
now,  but  the  distances  were  so  great  in  the  Valley  itself,  by 
want  of  roads  and  the  circuitous  routes  by  the  rivers,  and  by 
the  impossibility  of  employing  the  wind  as  a  motive  power, 
to  any  great  or  certain  extent,  that  the  moving  of  the  only 
materials  whereby  wealth  could  be  accumulated  became  in- 
creasingly burdensome  and  unprofitable.  The  larger  the  area 
opened  for  cultivation  the  less  valuable  had  produce  become. 
The  distance  from  New  Oi-leans  to  Atlantic  seaports  by  sailing 
vessels  was  great  and  the  passage  perilous. 

So  costly  was  transport,  even  to  those  who  lived  imme- 
diately bj'  the  rivers,  that  little  w^as  to  be  made,  and  a  vast 
amount  of  labor  was  required  to  compass  that  little.  It  had  its 
compensations  in  making  the  inhabitants  of  the  exti-emes  of  the 
Valley  known  to  each  other  and  entered  as  an  element  of  cul- 
ture into  the  life  and  thoughts  of  the  backwoodsmen.  It  also 
strengthened  tlie  bonds  of  union  between  the  distant  parts  of 
the  country,  which  was  no  small  matter  at  this  early  period. 

Yet,  those  who  could  only  find  good  lands  at  a  distance  from 
the  streams  obtained  little  pay  for  anything  they  could  pro- 
duce. The  cost  of  getting  it  to  market  was  too  great,  the 
Valley  was  too  prolific  for  so  large  a  number  of  farmers  and 
so  much  isolation  from  the  world  of  men  and  the  centers  of 
trade.  Biit  when  this  difiiculty  began  to  threaten  to  crush 
the  poorer  and  later  immigrants  a  new  motive  power  was 
developed    to    wonderful    efficiency.      The    Age   of    Steam 

350 


THE    STEAMBOAT    AS    AN    ELEMENT    OF    PROGRESS.  251 

was  fairly  opened  about  1S20;  just  when,  but  for  it,  tlie 
progress  of  the  Valley  would  have  been  crippled.  With  the 
steamboat  the  whole  situation  was  changed.  Now,  a  voj-age 
to  New  Orleans  from  the  extremes  of  the  upper  Valley  could 
be  made,  and  the  returns  effected,  in  less  than  a  mouth,  with- 
out the  painful  labors  and  exposures  that  often  shortened 
the  lives  of  the  boatmen.  The  steamboats  were  capacious 
and  coTild  take  vast  loads  down  the  river  in  a  few  days.  The 
rivei-  system  of  the  Valley  seemed  the  true  home  of  the 
steamboat  and  the  improvement  was  immense.  A  vast  dis- 
tance was  almost  annihilated  by  this  wonderful  mechanical 
force,  and  the  pulsations  of  the  steamer  gave  a  richer  and 
more  successful  life  to  the  struggling  farmer  far  in  the  woods 
or  on  the  most  distant  prairies.  It  was  the  power  needed 
to  give  a  lively  circulation  through  the  whole  body  of  the 
Valley. 

The  result,  as  condensed  from  official  and  other  documents 
of  the  time,  was  siibstan'tially  as  follows:  There  were  S  steam- 
ers built  on  the  Ohio  previously  to  1817,  some  of  which  did  not 
return  after  descending  to  New  Orleans,  being  retained  there 
for  local  trade,  or  other  reasons.  They  were  the  trial  boats, 
and  it  was  still  some  years  before  steam  began  to  aid  directly 
and  largely  in  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  Valley.  By  1S25, 
so  great  was  the  ingenuity  and  enterprise  applied  by  the  bold 
and  active  men  of  the  West  tiiat  a  hundred  or  more  were  in 
use,  and  some  of  them  were  considered  the  finest  boats,  both 
for  service  and  elegance,  in  the  world.  Thus  the  manufac- 
txiring  industry  of  the  Valley  wrote  "  Excelsior  "  on  its  ban- 
ner of  progress  in  the  early  days. 

From  1819  to  1829  the  whole  number  of  steamboats  built 
was  estimated  as  embracing  a  capacity  of  56,000  tons,  at  a 
first  cost  of  $5,600,000,  with  repairs  amounting,  in  the  same 
time,  to  $2,800,000.  In  the  year  1829  there  were  over  two 
hundi-ed  steamers  in  use,  having  a  capacity  of  35,000  tons, 
their  expenditures  for    fuel,    hands,  food    and    other    things 


252  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

amounting  to  very  near  $2,500,000.  These  boats  made 
five  or  six  trips  in  the  year.  Twelve  years  before  (1817)  the 
trade  of  the  Oliio  Valley  and  "  Upper  Country  "  was  esti- 
mated at  abont  2,000  tons  annually,  in  boats  which  made 
but  one  trip  in  the  year,  with  very  little  expendimre  to  enrich 
the  settlers  on  the  way. 

In  1834  the  number  of  boats  was  230,  with  an  aggregate 
capacity  of  39,000  tons,  and  the  running  expenses  amounted 
to  $'l,6-4-l,000.  The  amount  of  fuel  consumed  in  the  year  cost 
nearly  $1,500,000.  These  boats  were  more  cheaply  built  than 
in  earlier  times,  and  the  capital  invested  in  them  was  estimated 
at  $3,000,000.  Thus  over  seven  and  a  half  million  dollars  were 
spent  in  the  Valley  merely  in  conducting  the  business.  In 
1832  it  was  estimated  that,  besides  the  steamboats,  4,000  flat- 
boats  descended  the  river,  the  whole  expenditure  on  them,  in- 
cluding their  expenses,  being  $1,380,000;  while  the  cost  and 
expenses  of  the  steamboats  in  use  that  year  were  $5,906,000. 
The  value  of  the  produce  exported  on  them  was  estimated  at 
$26,000,000.  This  was  more  than  $30,000,000  distributed 
broadcast  over  the  Valley  by  the  commerce  of  the  rivers.  The 
number  of  persons  deriving  their  subsistence  from  employ- 
ment in  connection  with  the  making,  repairing  and  working 
of  the  boats  was  believed  to  be  about  90,000.  These  persons 
furnished  local  markets  to  the  agricultural  producers,  and  the 
cash  amounts  realized  by  the  farmers,  chiefly  of  the  upper 
Valley,  were  millions  on  the  sale  of  their  crops,  besides  their 
own  support.  This  continued  to  increase  at  a  large  ratio,  for, 
with  I'esults  so  excellent,  immigration  increased,  tacilities  for 
transportation  multiplied,  and  markets  enlarged.  The  eft'ect 
of  this  commerce  in  cheapening  what  the  people  of  the  Val- 
ley wished  to  import  from  the  Eastern  States  was  great.  The 
carriage  of  goods  from  tlie  seaboard  to  Pittsburgh  was  long 
estimated  at  $5  to  $S  pei-  hundred  pounds.  They  could  often 
now  import  from  Philadelphia  by  way  of  New  Orleans  for 
$1  per  hundred — a  vast  gain  to  the  purchaser  in  the  Valley. 


COMMERCE    OF    THE    LAKES    AND    RIVERS    IX    184:2.  253 

Official  statistics  in  1842  indicate  an  immense  development 
of  internal  commerce  on  the  rivers  and  lakes  in  eight  years. 
Six  hundred  steamboats  and  four  thousand  tiatboats  were  then 
employed.  The  tonnage  of  the  steamboats  was  126,000.  This 
was  largely  in  excess  of  the  capacity  of  the  entire  steamboat 
tohnage  of  the  British  Empire  at  that  time.  More  than  200,- 
000  persons  were  directly  employed  in  expediting  this  naviga- 
tion, and  the  cost  of  the  boats,  machinery,  furniture,  and  entire 
annual  expenses  counted  up  to  about  twenty  million  dollars, 
about  fifteen  million  of  which  was  spent  annually  in  the  Valley. 
As  the  increase  in  tonnage  was  more  than  three  hundred  per 
cent  in  ten  years,  we  may  suppose  that  the  trade,  and  its  profits 
to  the  Valley,  had  increased  in  the  same  proportion. 

It  is  stated  that  the  entire  tonnage  of  all  vessels  in  the 
United  States  was  but  two  thirds  that  of  Great  Britain  at 
this  time;  yet  the  steamboat  tonnage  on  western  waters 
exceeded,  by  about  one  third,  the  same  class  of  vessels  belong- 
ing to  that  "  Mistress  of  the  Seas."  This  fact  is  an  eloquent 
comment  on  the  intelligent  energy  gained  by  Anglo-Ameri- 
cans, since,  as  Anglo-Saxons,  they  had  emigrated  from  Eng- 
land. The  mixture  of  other  nationalities  had  not  weakened 
either  intelligence  or  energy.  Finding  a  new  and  suitable 
iiibtniment  for  use,  they  developed  it,  notwithstanding  their 
want  of  capital,  of  skilled  labor,  and  in  spite  of  various  other 
difficulties,  with  a  vigor  that  put  the  extreme  resolution  of 
England  to  the  blush.  In  these  instruments  of  internal  com- 
merce it  was  estimated  that,  in  1842,  $220,000,000  worth  of 
commercial  exchanges  floated  on  tlie  western  waters.  At  this 
time  the  entire  imports  and  exports  of  the  whole  United  States 
amounted  to  a  little  less  than  $250,000,000.  If  the  coast 
trade  of  the  Southern  States  and  rivers  not  included  in  the 
$220,000,000  be  added— and  it  was  extremely  valuable,  being 
chiefly  cotton  and  rice  for  export,  and  much  of  the  provisions 
of  the  Southern  people,  besides  almost  all  the  manufactured 
articles  they  required  in  exchange — the  trade  of  the  Valley 


254  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

must  have  been  considerably  in  excess  of  the  whole  foreign 
trade  of  the  country. 

The  southern  Valley  was  now  in  a  full  tide  of  prosperity, 
and  gave  itself  up  alraost  exclusively  to  the  cultivation  of  its 
three  staples,  cotton,  sugar  and  rice.  It  expanded  and  glowed 
under  its  warm  southern  sun,  by  the  entei-prise  and  wealth  of 
its  planters  and  the  toil  of  its  dusky  laborers.  The  planters 
loved  space,  and  large  plantations  everywhere  increased.  The 
Indians  had  been  removed  and  their  territories  occupied ;  Texas 
was  about  to  be  added,  and  room  was  abundant.  The  smaller 
streams  bore  the  cotton  to  the  coast;  the  rice  and  sugar  found 
their  best  locality  near  it.  Thus,  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf, 
the  intelligent  and  forceful  inhabitants  found  every  desirable 
opportunity  for  profitable  enterprise.  All  the  regions  of  the 
Valley  offered  perennial  springs  of  wealth  to  a  people  who 
knew  how  to  open  them,  and  never  had  a  people  shown  this 
ability  so  eminently  as  those  who  had  now  found  their  way 
here. 

In  1820  the  preliminaries  necessary  to  the  commencement 
of  the  actual  development  of  all  the  fields  of  activity  and 
income  in  the  Valley  had  been  supplied.  Suitable  institu- 
tions and  a  fairly  enlightened  political  economy  had  been 
devised,  set  in  operation,  and  found  to  work  fairly  well  for 
the  time;  embarrassing  foreign  influences  had  been  removed; 
population  had  been  diffused  sufficiently  to  bring  all  the 
sources  of  strength  to  the  support  of  the  shrewd  energy  of 
the  people,  and  the  application  of  steam  as  a  motive  power 
was  about  to  multiply  a  hundred  fold  the  effectiveness  of 
those  energies,  and  supply  the  great  lack  of  population  for 
the  vast  work  to  be  done.  A  large  flatboat  on  the  Western 
rivers  required  forty  to  fifty  men;  a  steamboat  with  the  same 
number  carried  perhaps  ten  times  the  burden  in  a  fifth  part 
of  the  time,  could  ascend  the  current  easily  and  speedily,  and 
make  several  trips  during  one  season. 

In  1817  the  Erie  Canal,  connecting  the  waters  and  iiaviga- 


VAST  IMMIGRATION  BETWKEN  ISoO  AND  1850.      255 

tion  of  Lake  Erie  with  the  Hudson,  was  coinineTiced.  It  was 
linished  in  1825.  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
in  due  time,  followed  this  example  ;  the  wagon  road  from 
Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh  was  improved;  and  the  Cumber- 
land road  rendered  communication  between  the  Potomac  and 
the  Ohio  Rivers  easy.  Although  the  completion  of  all  these 
channels  of  internal  commerce  required  more  than  thirty 
years,  some  of  them  were  well  advanced  in  1820,  and  a  jour- 
ney from  New  York,  Philadelphia,  or  Baltimore  to  the  centers 
of  population  in  the  Valley  was  as  rapid  and  easy  as  one  from 
Boston  to  Philadelphia  in  the  lirst  years  of  independence. 
The  East  and  the  West  were  joined  by  the  strong  ties  of 
interest  and  trade. 

The  effect  of  the  greater  freedom  and  ease  of  communica- 
tion on  the  progress  of  settlement,  during  this  third  period 
of  Valley  growth,  was  very  remarkable.  By  1830  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  Valley  was  4,190,000 — an  increase  of  nearly 
two  million  in  ten  years.  Indiana,  Tennessee  and  Alabama 
had  each  gained,  in  the  ten  years,  about  200,000  inhabitants; 
Ohio,  350,000  ;  the  other  states  from  sixty  to  two  hundred 
thousand  each  ;  Michigan  about  23,000  ;  Arkansas  15,000. 
In  1840  the  population  of  tlie  Valley  was  over  6,700,000,  the 
greatest  gains  being  made  in  the  three  states  lying  north  of 
the  Ohio  River  ;  Alabama,  Mississipjji  and  Michigan  come 
next  ;  followed  by  Missouri,  Louisiana  and  Arkansas.  From 
1840  to  1850,  the  gain  was  about  three  and  a  half  millions. 
About  one  third  of  this  was  gained  in  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin  ;  more  than  one  fourth  crossed  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  remainder  settled  in  the  states  lying 
between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Gulf.  The  population  of  the 
Valley  in  1860  considerably  exceeded  that  of  the  whole  coun- 
try in  1820— rising  above  10,000,000.  Yet,  in  1860,  the  census 
showed  a  gain  in  the  Valley  almost  equal  to  the  population 
of  the  whole  Valley  in  1840. 

Between  1840  and  1850  Illinois  gained  more  than  400,000 


266  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEV. 

inhabitants;  Indiana  over  300,000;  Michigan  nearly  350,000 
Wisconsin  275,000;  Iowa  150,000;  Missouri  almost  300,000 
Arkansas  100,000;  Louisiana  235,000;  Mississippi  370,000 
Alabama  about  280,000;  Texas  100,000  or  more.  Ohio  beat 
them  all,  gaining  470,000.  Kentucky  people  had  a  fancy  for 
emigrating,  to  "  grow  up  with  a  new  country,"  and  gained  but 
90,000.  Tennessee  increased  by  140,000.  These  were  vast 
changes  to  take  place  so  suddenly.  In  a  single  generation  a 
wilderness  had  become  an  empire.  Many  a  man  who  had 
fought  the  Indians  in  Kentucky  and  Ohio  in  his  youth  lived 
to  see  the  Valley  under  the  aspect  of  an  old  country,  himself 
as  lost  amid  its  busy  and  thriving  millions  as  he  had  often 
found  himself,  in  early  life,  among  the  pathless  forests.  Cities 
and  towns  had  sprung  up,  as  if  by  magic,  along  the  rivers  and 
lakes.  Canals,  whose  united  length  might  almost  span  the 
continent,  were  channels  of  busy  activity,  and  many  hundreds 
of  steamers  constantly  vexed  the  waters  of  the  great  rivers. 
Yet,  this  was  only  preliminary  to  the  greater  growth  that 
was  to  follow.  The  cotton  of  the  southern  Valley  and  the 
grain  of  the  northern  could  not  get  to  the  seaboard  fast  enough, 
with  all  these  outlets.  Inexhaustible  fertilit}^  supplied  so 
large  a  surplus  that  food  was  cheap  and  it  would  not  pay  to  cul- 
tivate land  away  from  the  rivers,  and  the  spaces  were  so  vast 
that  ten  millions  of  people  could  only  skirt  the  streams  and 
cover  the  more  accessible  prairies.  A  new  carrying  agent,  of 
greater  compass  and  speed,  was  required.  But  neither  nature 
nor  circumstances  seemed  willing  to  deny  anything  to  the 
Beautiful  Valley,  and  what  it  required  was  forthcoming. 
With  1850  commenced  the  great  development  of  the  Railway 
System. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  RAILROAD  ERA. 


The  floating  commerce  of  the  West  had  reached  the  value 
of  $500,000,000  before  1S50,  the  number  of  steamboats  rising 
to  1,190  as  early  as  184:7;  and  yet  the  increasing  abundance  of 
the  products  of  the  soil  kept  all  the  channels  of  e.\it  glutted, 
or,  if  they  were  not,  it  was  only  that  the  requisite  cheapness 
of  transport  failed,  and  that  it  was  unprofitable  to  raise  all 
that  the  Valley  so  bountifully  offered  to  the  labor  of  its 
favored  possessors.  The  situation  and  aims  of  southern  agri- 
culturists confined  them  to  their  special  staples  and  prevented 
a  general  development  of  all  the  resources  of  their  section; 
they  fell  behind  the  North  in  various  lines  of  progress,  and 
both  foreign  and  domestic  markets  were  to  be  sought  through 
the  commercial  and  manufacturing  cities  on  or  near  the  coast  of 
the  North  Atlantic.  Steamboats  could  not  reach  these  mar- 
kets directly  east,  the  canals  were  not  adequate  to  the  immense 
business  from  Lake  Erie;  the  roundabout  transport  by  New 
Orleans  from  the  upper  Valley,  with  the  hot  tropical  seas, 
and  the  dangers  of  the  South  Atlantic  coast,  made  it  objec- 
tionable as  a  route  for  the  transport  of  grain  to  the  northern 
cities,  or,  as  it  was  thought,  to  Europe.  The  steamboat  had 
done  much  for  the  Valley,  but  it  had  its  limits  of  use- 
fulness. Tliese  difficulties  might  possibly  be  put  up  with  if 
development  were  to  be  arrested,  or  to  proceed  with  a  more 
measured  step;  but  the  rateof  development  had  been  acquired 
and  it  must  proceed  with  ever-increasing  rapidity. 

The  means  of  overcoming  this  difficulty  had  been  foreseen 

for  twenty  years;  a  new  application   of  steam  had  begun  to 

aid  in  .solving  the  problem.     By  1830  the  success  of  railways 

in  tlie  East  was  fairly  assured.     Their  progress  was  attentively 

17  257 


258  THE  Missiissn'i-i  valley. 

observed  from  tlie  West,  and  it  was  very  soon  decided  that 
this  was  the  special  instrument  needed  for  the  development  of 
the  upper  Valley.  The  interiors  of  the  prairie  states  and  ter- 
ritories were  iinprolitable  for  settlement  from  the  inade(piate 
supply  of  lumber,  the  expense  of  reaching  markets  and  the 
low  price  of  agricultural  products.  By  the  winter  of  1835-6 
the  great  progress  made  in  ten  years  and  the  general  prosperity 
of  the  country  led  the  people  of  the  West  to  feel  tliat  nothing 
was  impossible  to  them.  They  proposed  to  cover  the  prairies 
with  railroads  and  do  precisely  that  which  has  been  done  in 
later  years.  The  courage,  the  self-reliance,  the  sense  of  power, 
which  had  brought  them  successfully  through  the  Heroic 
Period,  through  the  immense  difficulties  of  the  following 
twenty-five  years,  and  had  then  developed  the  internal  com- 
merce of  the  country  to  such  vast  proportions,  l)y  the  steam- 
boat, filled  them  with  buoyant  exultation.  They  had  sur- 
mounted formidable  difticulties  with  a  pertinacious  energy 
that  certainly  gave  them  the  right  to  feel  proudly  confident. 
Western  Legislatures  seemed  to  fully  comprehend  the  mean- 
ing of  the  railroad;  they  saw  at  once  that  the  results  would  be 
what  they  have  since  become.  Young  America,  in  this  region 
of  boundless  opportunities,  showed  a  quickness  of  apprehen- 
sion and  a  courage  of  endeavor  equal  to  the  occasion.  At  this 
time  (1836)  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  incorporated  companies 
for  building  railroads  whose  contemplated  length  was  three 
thoiisand,  tv)o  hundred  and  eighty-seven  miles.  The  Legisla- 
ture of  Missouri  incorporated  one  and  contemplated  another. 
Such  was  the  spirited  feeling  of  the  men  of  the  West!  But 
they  had  not  counted  the  cost,  had  not  yet  bargained  with  cap- 
ital, nor  taken  possible  disasters  into  the  account.  The  coun- 
try had  been  growing  prosperous  beyond  any  similar  experi- 
ence of  mankind ;  grave  business  men  and  statesmen  lost  their 
mental  equilibrium  with  the  sight  of  a  growth  so  rapid,  and, 
evidently,  so  solid;  the  national  debt  was  extinguished  except 
a  few  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  could  not  be  paid, 


EFFECTS   OF    THE    FINANCIAL    PANIC    OF    1837.  259 

though  it  might  have  been  done  ten  times  over  witli  funds  at 
hand;  with  a  large  surphis  income  it  determined  to  lend  to 
the  states,  and  the  West  felt  itself  thoroughly  prosjjerous. 

With  such  tair  prospects  everybody  made  haste  to  be  rich, 
and  credit  was  almost  unlimited  ;  the  future  was  judged  by 
the  immediate  past,  and  its  growth  freely  pledged  for  loans 
that  were  expected  to  multiply  results  indefinitely.  But  they 
now  received  a  sad  lesson  on  the  evils  of  over-confidence  and 
over-haste.  Credit  had  gone  too  far  and  assumed  too  much. 
An  attempt  to  rectify  itself  resulted  in  panic  and  a  hasty 
attempt  of  lenders  to  recover  from  creditors;  this  could  not 
be  done  at  once  nor  at  all  without  the  expected  help  of  the 
future.  A  sudden  fall  of  values  was  the  result.  This  created 
great  distress,  es])ecially  in  the  Valley,  where  so  much  had 
been  invested  which  could  not  make  returns  for  years.  Rail- 
road projects  were  therefore  mostly  abandoned  until  better 
times  and  the  people  of  the  Valley  set  themselves  to  the  work 
of  repairing  the  injuries  of  the  storm  of  disaster.  The  few 
railways  that  went  on  proceeded  very  slowly.  Young  Amer- 
ica must  learn  to  be  patient  as  well  as  courageous. 

Railroads  were  steadily  pressed  forward  in  the  East,  how- 
ever, so  that,  in  1850,  there  were  8,600  miles  of  road  in  use. 
Only  a  few  hundred  of  these  were  in  the  Valley-  ;  but  those 
in  the  East,  were,  in  many  cases,  lines,  or  parts  of  lines,  Iniilt 
from  the  seaboard  cities  toward  it.  Some  of  them  had  reached 
its  borders.  Boston  was  joined  to  New  York  and  that  city 
with  Lake  Erie  ;  Chicago  was  connected  with  Detroit  near 
Lake  Erie;  and  the  upper  Ohio  was  about  to  be  joined  to 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  by  two  routes.  The  East  was 
as  eager  to  tap  the  streams  of  wealth  in  the  Valley,  for  its 
own  benefit,  as  the  West  was  to  open  larger  channels  for  the 
outflow  of  its  abundance  for  the  sake  of  sale. 

The  difficulty  was  in  a  deficiency  of  capital.  Hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  required  to  be  withdrawn  from  immedi- 
ately productive  pursuits,  large  returns  must  be  deferred  for 


2f)0  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

some  years,  and  some  uncertainty  must  be  allowed  in  many 
of  the  ventures.  In  the  earlier  days  this  capital  could  not  he 
at  once  spared.  The  beginnings  already  made  liad  exhausted 
the  accumulations  seeking  investment;  there  must  be  time 
for  fresh  accumulations.  This  point  was  suddenly  gained  by 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  The  amount  was  so  large 
and  continued  to  How  so  long  tliat  capital  at  once  became 
abundant,  and  by  various  channels  found  its  way  to  invest- 
ment in  the  railroad  system  of  the  Valley  that  had  been  so 
liberally  projected  fifteen  years  before.  Some  hundreds  of 
millions  of  gold  were  supplied  to  the  iioating,  or  cash,  capi- 
tal of  the  country  when  it  was  most  needed.  The  railroad 
system  already  united  with  steamboat  navigation  to  connect 
the  lakes  and  the  upper  Ohio  with  the  northern  Atlantic; 
now  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  constuction  ;  the  omissions 
in  the  chain  were  filled  in;  various  roads  soon  crossed  the 
Valley,  extended  down  the  rivers  and  along  the  lakes,  to 
compete  with  the  steamboat;  the  interiors  were  connected 
with  the  commercial  centers,  and  any  section  it  was  desired  to 
completely  open  up  to  settlement  was  supplied  with  a  railroad. 
The  great  destiny  of  the  Northwest  had  already  become 
apparent,  but  it  had  been  embarrassed  by  the  difficulties 
attending  the  settlement  of  an  interior  prairie  region,  by  the 
ice  and  storms  of  winter,  and  by  the  difficulty  of  navigating 
the  rivers  during  the  low  water  of  summer.  Chicago  now 
became  a  great  railroad  center  as  well  as  port  for  shipping; 
lines  of  railway  radiated  from  it  in  all  directions.  In  1842 
Illinois  had  but  forty-two  miles  of  railroad  and  in  1852  but 
one  hundred  and  forty-eight;  in  1860  it  had  2,811,  Wisconsin 
nearly  1,000,  and  the  system  had  already  begun  to  expand  west 
of  the  Mississippi.  Missouri  had  two  lines,  begun  early  in  the 
decade.  The  great  lumber  regions  of  Wisconsin  and  Minne- 
sota now  furnished  building  material  in  cheap  abundance, 
which  was  distributed  where  most  needed — on  the  prairies — ■ 
by  the  railroads. 


EASE  AND  COMFOET  OF  SETTLEMENT  WITH  KAILEOADS.       2lil 

The  eager  desire  of  the  American  people  to  acquire  full 
possession  of  the  great  wealth  the  Valley  offered  them  was 
now  fully  met  by  facilities  equal  to  their  need.  The  East 
poured  its  people  west  in  a  mighty  flood.  The  peasants  and 
artisans  of  Europe  came  by  the  hundred  thousand,  replacing 
the  drain  from  the  East  as  well  as  multiplying  the  emigrants 
to  the  West.  There  was  a  transfer  of  millions  from  the  East 
to  the  West.  It  hardly  bore  the  character  of  emigration,  for 
the  railroads  often  received  considerable  communities  of  friends 
and  neighbors,  with  all  their  movable  comforts  and  belongings, 
set  them  down  together,  on'some  vacant  spot  on  the  beautiful 
prairies,  and,  in  a  brief  space,  furnished  them  all  the  means  of 
replacing  their  abandoned  homes  by  still  more  beautiful  ones. 
In  a  year  or  two  the  farms  had  been  fenced  and  tilled,  the 
buildings  put  in  order,  the  village  artisans  settled  to  their 
callings,  the  school  and  church  supplied,  and  a  mature,  orderly 
and  prosperous  community  was  pursuing  its  quiet  way  as 
before  in  the  East.  "  Going  West  "  was  no  longer  becoming 
pioneers,  to  suffer  deprivation,  to  pass  through  j'ears  of  strug- 
gle with  difficulty  before  the  comforts  and  advantages  left 
could  be  replaced.  With  every  facility  for  instantly  sur- 
rounding themselves  with  all  the  conveniences  of  life,  and 
entering  immediately  on  the  work  of  production,  they  had  all 
the  advantages  of  distant  markets  brought  to  their  doors,  and 
a  considerable  income  could  be  immediatelv  obtained. 

It  was  a  vast  change,  suddenly  wrought,  and  the  more  sud- 
denly that  it  was  now  chiefly  the  prairie  that  was  sought. 
The  accessible  timbered  regions  had  been  settled  before.  With 
so  much  ease  and  convenience  of  replacing  homes  and  incomes, 
the  transfer  from  the  East  to  the  West  was  made  in  masses,  and 
the  gain  of  population  in  the  Valley  between  1850  and  1860 
was  quite  as  great  as  had  been  the  whole  number  as  late  as 
the  year  1838.  Wisconsin  had  received  about  470.000;  Texas 
nearly  400,000;  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  had  gained  about 
250,000;  Ohio  260,000;  Illinois  more  than  800,000;  Indiana 


262  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEV. 

320,000;  Missouri  500,000;  Iowa  480,000;  Minnesota  166,- 
OOO;  Mississippi,  Alabama  and  Louisiana  about  190,000  each; 
Michigan  350,000;  Arkansas  227,000;  Kansas  over  100,000, 
and  Nebraska  nearly  o0,000.  Some  other  gains  raised  the 
whole  number  considerably  above  5,000,000.  The  center  of 
population  for  the  United  States  was  already  within  the  limits 
of  the  Valley,  and  every  condition  of  a  still  greater  growth 
and  prosperity  was  abundantly  supplied,  had  enterprise  re- 
mained unchecked  and  chiefly  confined  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Human  affairs  are  so  arranged  that  the  spring 
and  summer  of  a  great  prosperity  are  usually  followed  by  a 
winter  of  great  disaster.  It  so  occurred  at  this  time,  though 
not  without  important  compensations. 


m 


CHAPTER    XII. 

CONSTITUTIONAL    BEGINNINGS    BY    THE    EARLY    SETTLKRS. 

The  people  of  the  colonies  which  furnished  tlie  pioneers 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  were  not  all  of  one  national  it}'  by 
descent;  they  were  from  various  classes  of  society  in  the  Old 
World;  and  many  of  the  principles  that  were  to  be  afterward 
embodied  in  the  institutions  they  created  lay,  in  the  earlier 
times,  undeveloped  in  their  minds.  They  were  ti-uly  attached 
to  the  mother  country,  and  the  customs  ruling  in  the  ancient 
homes  of  their  memories  and  affections  were,  so  far  as  they 
were  suitable,  continued  in  their  new  surroundinj^.s.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  their  loyalty  to  influences  and  bonds  that  reached 
across  the  Atlantic,  they  were  all  of  the  stock  which  had 
built  up  a  vigorous,  though  turbulent,  civilization  on  the 
splendid  ruins  of  the  Roman  Empire  it  had  overthrown,  and 
their  circumstances  in  the  New  World  insensibly  developed 
the  stronger  and  nobler  features  of  character  which  lay  at  the 
root  of  European  history.  They  were  of  the  races  of  the 
Feudal  Knights  of  Chivalry  and  Romance,  of  the  Crusaders, 
and  of  the  Northmen — of  the  races  that  had  covered  Europe 
with  battle-fields,  that  scarcely  ever  rested  from  fighting,  and 
yet  grew  more  thoughtful  and  wise  from  age  to  age. 

Transplanted  to  America  with  chartered  rights  to  defend 
against  all  attacks,  with  endless  trials  of  fortitude  and  courage 
while  subduing  a  wilderness  and  conquering  the  warlike 
Indians,  the  same  resolute  character  that  had  kept  Europe  in 
tumult  for  fifteen  hundred  years  was  more  and  more  drawn 
out.  When  they  made  a  point  they  held  to  it;  truly  civilized, 
they  felt  the  value  of  legal  governments  on  which  the  security 
of  property,  the  comfort  of  life,  and  the  strength  of  the  com- 
munity against  public  enemies  depend ;  they  respected  author- 

263 


264  THK    MISSISSIPPI    VALI.ET. 

ity,  endeavored  to  keep  within  legal  limits  in  resisting  its 
exactions,  and  argned  and  diplomatized  with  much  patience 
for  years;  but  what  they  had  resolved  authority  should  not 
force  on  them  they  resisted  with  unwavering  constancy.  All  the 
colonies,  differing  much  in  many  other  things,  were  endowed 
with  this  sturdiness  of  character.  There  was  a  repressed 
fervor — held  in  check  by  prudence  and  habit — that  consist- 
ently animated  their  lives  as  a  whole.  Not  much  remarked 
on  ordinary  occasions,  it  broke  out  with  intensity  at  great 
crises.  This  fiery  resoluteness  lay  partly  in  reserve  for 
emergencies,  and  partly  as  a  steady,  stimulating  force  at 
the  springs  of  action.  It  is  the  most  useful  and  admirable 
contradiction  in  character  any  people  can  possess. 

These  elements  of  character  crossed  the  mountains  with 
the  pioneers  of  the  Valley  and  were  still  further  developed 
there  by  a  severe  and  peculiar  discipline.  The  Indian  dashed 
against  them,  as  against  a  rock,  and  rebounded  wounded  and 
broken.  The  French,  the  Spanish  and  the  English  tried 
against  them  all  their  arts  of  war,  of  diplomacy,  and  of  glit- 
tering promises,  with  the  same  result.  While,  few  and  unpro- 
tected, they  were  struggling  to  build  homes  and  open  farms 
in  a  vast  ocean  of  forest  in  the  far  interior,  and  the  colonies 
on  the  coast  were  confronting  the  navies  and  armies  of  Eng- 
land, they  stood  successfully  at  bay  before  the  Indians,  who, 
stimulated  by  British  agents  and  furnished  with  British  arms, 
sought  to  sweep  them  down  by  the  bullet,  the  tomahawk  and 
the  firebrand.  They  not  only  stood  iirni;  they  knew  how  to 
strike  back  with  great  effect.  They  completely  defeated  the 
British  Indian  Pt)licy  in  the  Valley,  and  held  the  outposts 
of  the  new  Republic  against  great  odds — not  as  soldiers  but 
as  farmers.  Their  main  business  was  agricultural;  fighting 
was  only  undertaken  when  not  to  be  avoided,  or  to  secure 
relief  from  attack. 

It  was  extremely  fortunate  that  this  people,  intent  only  on 
industrial  progress,  secured  possession  of  the  richest  and  best 


FORTUNATE  ESCAPE  OF  THE  VALLEY  FROM  FOREIGN  RULE.  265 

agricultural  region  in  the  world  instead  of  tlie  Spanish, 
French  or  English.  Under  the  control  of  a  foreign  government, 
which  would  have  subordinated  the  interests  of  their  subjects 
here  to  their  European  policy,  and  have  deprived  theui  of 
the  freedom  of  action  and  the  stimulus  to  enterprise  necessaiy 
to  great  results,  there  would  have  been  a  repetition,  more  or 
less  complete,  of  the  history  of  Canada  and  the  Spanish 
American  colonies.  Could  the  French  ha^'itans  of  Canada 
have  developed  as  freely  as  the  Anglo-Americans  in  the 
Valley,  their  history  would  have  been  prouder  and  more 
impressive.  Under  the  policy  pursued  by  France  and  Spain 
their  colonists  stagnated  ;  both  character  and  enterprise  lay 
dormant.  Although  England  was  considerably  wiser  than 
France  or  Spain  her  colonial  policy  remained  a  huge  stumb- 
ling block  to  her  colonies  until  within  the  last  fifty  years,  and 
a  part  of  her  recent  wisdom  is  due  to  the  influence  and 
example  of  free  America. 

One  hundred  and  forty-four  years  after  the  death  of  De 
Soto,  La  Salle,  representing  the  humane  and  courteous  side 
of  the  old  chivalry  brightened  with  the  morning  rays  of  a 
new  civilization  and  a  riper  age,  fell  a  victim  to  .Jesuit  intrigue 
and  the  disappointed  passions  of  his  followers.  Had  he  lived 
and  prospered  he  would  have  held  the  lower  and  central  Val- 
ley and  a  new  France  would  have  taken  root  in  the  prairies, 
and,  in  alliance  with  the  Indians,  have  confined  Anglo-Amer- 
ican development  to  the  Atlantic  Slope  for  a  long  period,  at 
least.  The  character  of  the  Republic,  could  it  have  come  into 
being  so  surrounded  with  adverse  influences,  must  have  been 
extremely  difterent.  More  compact  and  concentrated,  it  would 
have  been  more  European,  its  thought  less  free,  its  growth  less 
expansive.  The  spirit  of  modern  justice  can  not  shed  a  tear 
over  the  tragic  fate  of  the  heart-broken  De  Soto.  He  embodied, 
for  the  Valley,  the  inhumanity  of  his  country  and  times — it 
was  fitting  that  an  ambition  so  brutal  and  unholy  should  find 
a  grave  in  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi.     La  Salle  belonged 


266  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

to  more  modern  times;  heliad  much  of  our  own  appreciation 
of  the  beautiful  Valley,  and  his  ambition  might  easily  have 
been  gratified  without  the  bloodshed  and  ruin  which  were 
essential  to  the  success  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro. 

The  disastrous  close  of  La  Salle's  career,  in  the  full  sti'ength 
and  power  of  a  manhood  so  noble  and  on  the  eve  of  success, 
is  painful  to  contemplate,  for  his  character  and  aspirations 
awaken  all  our  sympathy;  but  the  success  of  his  great  plans 
would  have  widely  and  disastrously  changed  the  history  of  the 
first  century  of  the  Republic,  and  the  great  wealth  of  the  Val- 
ley would  have  nourished  a  sadly  imperfect  form  of  European 
civilization. 

Thirteen  years  after  the  death  of  La  Salle  the  Canadian, 
D'Iberville,  established  a  French  colony  in  the  lower  Val- 
ley; but  it  was  not  the  time,  nor  was  he  the  man,  to  realize 
tlie  broad  schemes  of  the  great  French  pioneer.  The 
French  settlements  on  the  feverish  and  unhealthy  Gulf 
coast  added  but  slightly  to  the  strength  and  development  of 
the  germs  La  Salle  had  planted  on  the  Illinois.  The  settle- 
ments there  became  simple  trading  posts;  the  settlers,  having 
no  stimulus  and  no  vigorous  head  to  think  and  plan  for  them, 
bowed  before  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  and  sunk,  as 
nearly  as  their  memories  and  previous  habits  would  permit, 
toward  the  level  of  the  Indian.  The  wilderness  overwhelmed 
them.  Thev  did  not  settle  like  the  Ansflo-Saxon,  work  out  a 
destiny  of  their  own  bj-  developing  the  resources  of  the  country, 
and  hewing  their  way  to  the  outside  world.  They  took  life 
easily,  hunted,  traveled,  and  cultivated  a  little;  lived  in  a  primi- 
tive simplicity,  littleabove  thatof  the  Indians,  without  acquir- 
ing their  vigorous  passion  for  war.  Falling,  in  the  lowerV alley, 
into  hostile  relations  to  the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws,  as  the 
early  Canadians  had  done  to  the  Iroquois,  and  maintaining 
closer  relations  with  France,  they  preserved  a  stronger  organ- 
ization without  developino'  a  much  higher  or  more  airffressive 
character.     French  dominion  in  the  Vallev  was,  therefore,  an 


THE    VALLEV    REJECTS    PROPRIETARY    GOVERNMENT.         267 

element  too  feeble  and  uncertain  to  seriously  affect  its  desti- 
nies. They  served  mainly  to  e.xclnde  a  more  vigorous  intru- 
sion until  the  true  masters  and  civilizers  of  the  Valley  should 
appear.  When  they  were  confined,  after  the  conquest  oi 
Canada,  to  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  the  French  inhabi- 
tants on  the  east  bank  lost  little  by  retiring  across  it,  for  they 
left  little  but  a  memory. 

The  English  constitution  contained  the  germs  of  freedom, 
and  those  germs  lay  even  more  in  the  intelligence  and  character 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  people  than  in  the  policy  or  traditions 
of  Government.  Anglo-Americans  remembered  the  ])rinci- 
ples  which  had  often  been  forgotten  by  Kings,  Lords;  and  even 
Commons,  and  proceeded  to  give  them  a  broad  and  free  inter- 
pretation. Yet  progress  even  in  this  was  slow;  and  ct)nsti- 
tutional  beginnings  were,  at  first,  on  the  old  English  models. 
Soon  after  the  close  of  Pontiac's  war  a  "  Mississippi  Com- 
pany "  was  formed  in  the  colonies,  and  a  petition,  signed  by 
George  Washington,  amonij  other  Virginia  gentlemen,  was 
presented  to  the  English  Board  of  Ti-ade  for  two  and  a  half 
million  acres  of  land  in  ''  Ohio."  The  English  Government  did 
not  look  favorably  on  an  extension  of  the  settlements  across 
the  mountains.  Franklin,  then  the  agent  of  the  colonies  in 
England,  wrote  a  paper  on  the  "  Ohio  Settlements  "  which 
somewhat  changed  its  views,  and  the  concession  asked  received 
the  signature  of  the  king,  August  14,  1772,  while  irregular 
settlement  was  forbidden  by  royal  proclamation.  The  ap- 
proach of  the  Revolutionary  struggle  prevented  this  scheme 
from  ripening  into  act.  "  West  Florida,"  as  the  shore  of  the 
Gulf  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  was  called,  had  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Enjrlish  Government  in  1764,  and  emi- 
gration  there  was  encouraged  for  commercial  and  military 
purposes;  but  the  settlements  did  not  then  acquire  any  great 
strength.  The  coast  was  unhealthy,  and  the  warlike  Creeks 
held  the  upper  regions. 

In  1775  Richard  Henderson  and  other  gentlemen,  residents 


tiGS  THp;    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

of  North  Carolina,  having  formed  tlie  "  Transylvania  Com- 
pany,'" purchased  territoiy,  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  of 
the  Cherokees,  and  founded  tiie  first  settlements  in  Kentucky 
at  Boonesborough  and  several  other  points  in  that  region. 
The  government  was  to  he  a  mixed  proprietary  and  popular 
one,  on  the  plan  of  many  of  the  colonies,  as  had  probably 
been  proposed  by  the  "  Mississippi  Company.'"  On  the  23d 
of  May,  1775,  having  laid  tlie  first  foundations  of  four  settle- 
ments, the  proprietors  met  representatives  from  each  of  them 
in  the  yet  unfinished  fort  at  Boonesborough,  to  legislate  for 
the  common  interest.  The  proprietors  prepared  a  document 
answering  to  a  Constitution  and  a  Bill  of  Rights,  and  the 
House  of  Delegates,  as  the  representatives  called  themselves, 
with  all  due  formalities,  prepared  such  a  code  of  laws  as  was 
deemed  necessary  for  the  present,  which  was  signed  by  the 
])roprietors.  This  proprietary  scheme  fell  through  because 
Virginia  claimed  the  territory  west  of  the  moiintains  to  the 
Mississippi  River,  refused  to  recognize  the  treaty  of  cession 
made  to  the  Company  by  the  Cherokees,  and  deprived  them  of 
a  valid  title  to  the  lands.  Proprietary  governments  were,  really, 
a  relic  of  the  past.  Several  attempts  were  afterwards  made  to 
introduce  them  into  the  Valley,  under  various  modifications, 
but  they  did  not  suit  the  rising  genius  of  the  new  nation. 
Many  comiilications  and  vexations  in  regard  to  titles  soon 
banished  tlicm  altogether,  while  the  self-reliance  enforced  by 
the  danwrs  and  diflicnlties  of  the  wilderness  soon  taus'ht  the 
poorer  settlers  that  dependence  on  proprietors  was  a  hin- 
drance and  not  a  help. 

The  misgovernnient  of  ro^yal  officers  and  the  high  spirit  of 
the  backwoodsmen  of  Xorth  and  South  Carolina  led  to  the 
establishment,  between  1760  and  1770,  of  considerable  settle- 
ments within  the  border  of  the  Valley,  on  the  Holston  and 
Watauga  Rivers,  near  where  the  boundaries  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina  and  Tennessee  now  meet.  Though  beyond 
the  recognized  boundaries  of  civilization,  they  did  not  pro- 


THE    WATAUGA    ''  ARTICLES    OF    ASSOCIATION."  269 

pose  to  cease  to  be  civilized,  and,  in  1772,  feeling  the  need  of 
some  form  of  government,  with  true  American  instinct,  they 
drew  up  "  Articles  of  Association ''  and  established  a  small 
provisional  republic.  Rules,  or  laws,  for  the  government  of 
their  common  interests  were  adopted  and  commissioners 
appointed  by  popular  vote  to  see  them  properly  executed. 
Settlers  from  Pennsylvania  wandered  down  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  and  the  settlement  soon  spread  over  into  what  is  now 
Tennessee.  For  several  years  these  Articles  of  Association 
formed  the  only  constitution  and  law  of  the  settlements.  The 
executive  tribunal  appointed  under  it  held  sessions  at  regular 
intervals.  It  had  a  clerk,  an  attorney,  and  appointed  a  sheriff. 
The  laws  of  Virginia  were  adopted  as  the  standard  by  which 
its  decisions  were  rendered.  Wlien,  in  1776,  the  decisive 
conflict  of  the  colonies  with  the  Mother  Country  had  over- 
thrown the  royal  government,  from  whose  injustice  they  liad 
withdrawn  to  the  wilderness,  the  AVatauga  settlers  within  the 
boundaries  of  Tennessee  petitioned  to  be  annexed  to  North 
Carolina.  The  Legislature  of  that  state  organized  a  district 
embracing  the  whole  of  what  became  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
which  these  ardent  backwoods  republicans  called  Washington, 
in  honor  of  the  great  patriot  whose  recent  success  in  driving  a 
British  army  from  Boston  filled  them  with  joy. 

In  the  following  year  it  became  a  count}',  with  courts,  sher- 
iffs and  justices  of  the  peace.  Virginia  made  similar  provi- 
sion for  Kentucky  at  the  same  time.  Both  counties  at  once 
elected  deputies  to  represent  them  in  the  Legislatures  of  their 
respective  states.  A  constant  stream  of  pioneers  increased 
these  two  settlements  to  manj-  thousands  before  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  several  other  counties  had  then  been  formed. 
Tliey  were,  nominally,  integral  parts  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina. 

Really,  they  suffered  the  inconveniences  of  that  relation 
without  its  advantages.  The  British,  as  a  war  measure,  sought 
to  attack  the  colonies  in  the  rear  by  forming  alliances  with 


27(>  THK    MISSISSIPPI    VALI.KY. 

the  Indians,  fiirnisliiiig  tliein  with  military  supjilies  and 
stirring  U])  their  liostility.  to  the  settlers.  Holding  the  posts 
of  the  French  pioneers,  from  Detroit  to  the  Mississipj)!  River 
and  along  the  (Tnlf,  they  drew  a  cordon  of  tire  aronnd  the 
rebels,  from  the  Hndson  to  the  Ohio  and  from  Kentucky  to 
Georgia. 

The  East  had  its  hands  full  and  could  give  little  aid  to 
the  West.  In  January,  1778,  Patrick  Henry,  governor  of 
Virginia,  commissioned  George  Rogers  Clarke,  at  his  own 
urgent  re(juest.  to  raise  a  force  for  the  conquest  of  the  Britisli 
posts  in  "  The  Illinois  Country,"  and,  calling  for  volunteers 
along  the  frontier,  he  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  on  the  distant 
post  of  Kaskaskia,  and  took  possession  of  it  by  surprise,  July 
4th,  of  that  year,  and  contrived,  by  his  admirable  daring  and 
strategy,  to  maintain  the  general  superiority  of  the  American 
arms  over  the  British  and  Indians  in  that  vast  wilderness 
during  the  rest  of  the  war.  The  Tennesseeans  were  equally 
successful  in  thwarting  English  agents  among  the  Cherokees 
and  Creeks,  and,  furnishing  a  contingent  to  the  patriot  forces 
in  the  Carolinas,  assisted  in  gaining  some  of  the  brilliant 
victories  that  preceded  the  fall  of  Cornwallis. 

But  the  Indians,  though  usually  defeated,  continually 
returned  to  the  attack.  The  settlers,  without  any  permanent 
military  force  to  protect  their  quiet  progress,  were  required 
to  be  ready  at  any  and  every  moment  to  lay  down  the  axe  and 
the  hoe  and  take  up  the  rifle.  Property  and  life  were  in  con- 
stant peril.  Indian  hostility  did  not  cease  when  the  independ- 
ence of  the  country  was  secured;  the  General  Government 
had  but  the  shadow  of  power,  and  state  governments  were 
absorbed  in  repairing  their  own  disasters.  England  still  held 
possession  of  Detroit  and  the  Upper  Lakes,  and  hoped  yet  to 
recover  her  lost  colonies;  while  Spain  held  possession  of  the 
mouth  of  tlie  Mississippi.  The  settlements  were  increased 
by  many  thousands  yearly,  but  these  were  largely  women  and 
children  who  must  be  supported  by  such    resources    as  the 


ovr. 


GREAT  NEED  OF  STATE  GOVERNMENTS  IN  THE  WEST.  271 

Valley  itself  supplied,  and  the  more  they  increased  the  more 
abundant  were  the  opportunities  of  the  Indians  to  glut  their 
vengeance  by  slaughter  and  booty. 

Thus  the  formation  of  an  efficient  local  government  became 
an  absorbing  interest,  and  immediately  after  the  close  of  the 
war  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  began  to  agitate  constitutional 
questions.  It  had  become  evident  that  the  state  governments 
east  of  the  mountains  could  not  perform  their  functions  suc- 
cessfully in  the  West;  the  need  of  stronger  organization  there 
was  imperative,  and  yet  the  embarrassing  dependence  could 
not  easily  be  shaken  off  until  a  definite  plan  was  agreed  upcm. 
Kentucky  agitated,  negotiated  and  waited.  Tennessee  remon- 
strated without  effect,  and  acted  by  organizing  the  "  State  of 
Franklin." 

Both  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  took  steps  between 
1780  and  1784,  looking  to  the  cession  of  the  territories  they 
claimed  in  the  West  to  the  Continental  Government.  That 
government  was  overwhelmed  with  debt,  and  well  nigh  help- 
less for  good.  It  inspired  little  confidence  or  respect,  and 
the  rehictance  of  the  states  to  grant  it  larger  powers  did  not 
promise  further  lielp  from  it  to  tlie  bleeding  settlements  in 
the  Valley. 

The  idea  was  then  prevalent  that  the  diffictilties  of  comniu 
nication  between  the  East  and  the  West  across  the  mountains 
could  not  be  overcome,  and  pi'ojects  of  entire  independence 
of  the  East  were  frequently  suggested  to  the  leading  settlers 
by  intriguers  in  the  interest  of  foreign  governments,  by  the 
ambitious  who  found  in  them  promises  of  personal  advance- 
ment, and,  perhaps,  also,  by  their  own  reflections  on  the  vari- 
ous embarrassments  of  the  situation.  The  bold,  decisive  and 
enterprising  spirit  which  the  necessities  of  the  times  culti- 
vated in  them  would,  in  any  other  race,  have  led  to  un- 
happy consequences;  but  their  caution  and  good  sense  were 
equal  to  their  valor.  Kentucky  held  convention  after  conven- 
tion to  mature  plans,  to  ascertain  the  views  of  the  masses  of 


272  THE  MISSISSIPPI  vali.kv. 


the  people,  and  to  ncgothite  with  Virginia,  the  Mother  State. 
Though  anxious,  and  sometimes  indignant,  at  the  slow  and 
uncertain  movements  of  the  Eastern  people  who  dwelt  in 
security,  while  the  tomahawk  and  the  tirobrand  were  laying 
waste  their  infant  settlements,  thev  would  no  nothing  illesral. 
They  added  patience  to  their  other  virtues,  and  waited  nearly 
ten  years  for  liberty  to  construct  the  organization  they  so  much 
needed. 

If  Tennessee  acted  promptly  she  was  no  less  ready  to  correct 
the  error  when  it  was  clearly  recognized.  The  fierce  Cherokees 
and  Creeks  were  immediate  neighbors,  and  the  Tennesseeans 
were  exposed  to  even  greater  dangers  than  the  Kentuckians, 
whose  enemies  were  scattered  at  long  distances  north  of  the 
Ohio.  Two  conventions,  in  1784,  organized  their  indejjend- 
ent  State  of  Franklin,  and  its  first  Legislature  assembled  early 
in  1785.  The  constitution  was  completely  republican,  accord- 
ing to  the  American  idea  of  that  time.  The  legislative  author- 
ity was  confided  to  a  single  House  of  Representatives;  the  exec- 
utive consisted  of  a  Governor  and  Council,  all  elected  by  vote 
of  the  citizens.  All  white  people  could  purchase  lands  on 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  state,  and  become  citizens 
after  one  year's  residence. 

North  Can^lina  had  made  a  conditional  cession  of  Tennessee 
to  the  General  Go\'ernment,  but  it  had  not  yet  taken  efl^ect. 
Its  Legislature  highly  disapproved  the  measures  of  the  Ten- 
nesseeans, immediately  revoked  the  cession,  reclaimed  the  alle- 
giance of  th»  Franklinites  and  sought  to  remove  all  the  causes 
of  discontent  that  had  led  to  the  organization  of  the  independ- 
ent state.  With  great  prudence  and  moderation  it  abstained 
from  harsh  measures,  but  ordered  elections  and  appointed 
officers  as  formerly.  The  Franklin  Government  had  gone 
into  operation  and  continued  to  perform  its  functions  for 
three  years;  but  the  citizens  gradually  fell  away  from  it  and 
recognized  North  Carolina  officers  and  laws,  and  the  unusual 
spectacle  was  seen  of  two  state  governments  acting  quietly, 


j^^^^r 


THE    POLITICAL    MODERATION    OK    THE    PIONEERS.  )i  i  6 

with  almost  no  collision.  In  the  same  commiinitj.  The  peo- 
ple came  gradually  to  believe  tiiat  thej  had  no  sufficient  reason 
for  revolutionary  measures,  and,  in  179S,  the  Franklin  Gov- 
ernment died  a  natural  death.  As  soon  as  the  United  States 
Government,  under  the  new  Constitution,  went  into  operation 
both  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were  ceded  to  it.  Kentucky 
was  waiting  to  be  received  into  the  Union  as  a  state  and  never 
received  a  formal  territorial  organization.  Its  county  organ- 
izations and  courts,  as  constituted  by  Virginia,  took  care  of 
public  order  until  its  admission  into  the  Union,  June  1,  1792. 
Tennessee  was  organized  under  an  Ordinance  of  Congress, 
which  adopted  all  the  features  of  that  of  1787  for  the  North- 
west Terrritory,  except  in  regard  to  slavery,  which  had  been 
introduced  under  the  laws  of  North  Carolina  and  remained 
iindisturbed.  Thus,  by  their  wisdom,  moderation  and  patience 
under  the  severest  temjjtations  to  independent  action,  the  sim- 
ple and  true  common-sense  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Valley  for- 
bore to  add  to  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  Republic  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  and,  though  suliering  greatly,  bided  their 
time  for  receiving  justice  and  relief.  They  showed,  in  these 
early  days,  before  the  new  nation  had  organized  its  strength, 
the  liealthy,  practical  instincts  that  have  saved  the  Republic 
in  all  its  perilous  crises,  and  which  are  the  real  source  of  its 
greatness. 

18 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 


THE   CONSTITUTIONAL    SYSTEM    FOR    CREATING    NEW    STATES. 

While  Tennessee  was  beginning  to  revise  her  hasty  action 
in  disregarding  her  eastern  relations,  and  Kentucky  was  show- 
ing herself  worthy  of  independence  by  her  respect  for  con- 
stitutional restraints,  the  statesmen  of  the  East  were  doing 
themselves  equal  honor  in  providing  for  the  future  welfare 
of  the  parts  of  the  country  not  included  in  the  organized 
states.  July  13,  1787,  the  Continental  Congress  perfected  an 
Ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  territory  lying  between 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  and  the  Great  Lakes. 

Tliis  instrument  defined  the  character  (if  a  Territory,  as  dis- 
tinguished in  its  government  from  that  of  a  State,  and  settled 
the  general  practice  subsequently  followed.  Some  of  its  pro- 
visions formed  part  of  a  political  compromise  between  the 
free  and  slave  states  of  great  importance,  and  it  is  here  given 
in  full.     It  is  called 

THE  ORDINANCE   OF  1787. 

An  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the  Territory  of  the 
United  States  Northwest  of  tlie  River  Ohio. 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
That  the  said  territory,  for  the  purposes  of  temporary  govern- 
ment, be  one  district,  subject,  however,  to  be  divided  into  two 
districts,  as  future  circumstances  may,  in  the  opinion  of 
Congress,  make  it  expedient. 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  the  estates, 
both  of  resident,  and  non-resident  proprietors  in  said  territory, 
dying  intestate,  shall  descend  to,  and  be  distributed  among, 
their  children,  and  the  descendants  of  a  deceased  child,  in 
eqiial  parts ;  the  descendants  of  a  deceased  child,  or  grandchild, 
to  take  the  share  of  their   deceased   parent   in  equal   parts 

274 


THE    ORDINANCE    OF    1787.  275 

among  them  :  And  where  tliei-e  shall  be  no  children  or 
descendants,  then  in  equal  parts  to  the  next  of  kin  in  equal 
degree  ;  and,  among  collaterals,  the  children  of  a  deceased 
brother  or  sister  of  the  intestate  shall  liave,  in  equal  parts 
among  them,  their  deceased  parent's  share;  and  there  shall, 
in  no  case,  be  a  distinction  between  kindred  of  the  whole  and 
half-blood;  saving,  in  all  cases,  to  the  widow  of  the  intestate, 
her  third  part  of  the  real  estate  for  life,  and  one  third  part  of 
the  personal  estate;  and  this  law.  relative  to  descents  and 
dower,  shall  remain  in  full  force  until  altered  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  district.  And,  until  the  Governor  and  Judges  shall 
adopt  laws  as  hereinafter  mentioned,  estates  in  the  said  Terri- 
tory may  be  devised  or  bequeathed  by  wills  in  writing,  signed 
and  sealed  by  him  or  her,  in  whom  the  estate  may  be  (being 
of  full  age),  and  attested  by  three  witnesses:  and  real  estates 
may  be  conveyed  by  lease  and  release,  or  bargain  and  sale, 
signed,  sealed,  and  delivered,  by  the  person,  being  of  full  age, 
in  whom  the  estate  may  be,  and  attested  by  two  witnesses, 
provided  such  wills  be  duly  proved,  and  such  conveyances  be 
acknowledged,  or  the  execution  thereof  duly  proved,  and  be 
recorded  within  one  year  after  proper  magistrates,  courts,  and 
registers,  shall  be  appointed  for  that  purpose;  and  personal 
property  may  be  transferred  by  delivery;  saving,  however,  to 
the  French  and  Canadian  inhabitants,  and  other  settlers  of  the 
Kaskaskias,  St.  Vincents,  and  the  Tieighboring  villao;es  who 
have  heretofore  professed  themselves  citizens  of  "V  irginia, 
their  laws  and  customs  now  in  force  among  them,  relative  to 
the  descent  and  conveyance  of  property. 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  there  shall 
be  appointed,  from  time  to  time,  by  Congress,  a  Governor, 
■whose  commission  shall  continue  in  force  for  three  years, 
unless  sooner  revoked  by  Congress  ;  he  shall  reside  in  the 
district,  and  have  a  freehold  estate  therein  in  1.000  acres  of 
land,  while  in  the  exercise  of  his  office. 

There  shall  be  appointed,  from  time  to  time,  by  Congress, 
a  Secretary,  whose  commission  shall  continue  in  force  for  four 
years,  unless  sooner  revoked ;  he  shall  reside  in  the  district, 
and  have  a  freehold  estate  therein  in  500  acres  of  land,  while 
in  the  exercise  of  his  office;  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  keep  and 
preserve  the  acts  and  laws  passed  by  the  Legislature,  and  the 
public  records  of  the  district,  and  proceedings  of  the  Gov- 
ernor in  his  Executive  departmejit  :  and  transmit  authentic 


276  THE  Mississii'i'i  valley. 

copies  of  such  ucts  and  proceedings,  evei'y  six  montlis,  to  the 
Secretary  of  Congress:  There  sliall  also  be  appointed  a  Court 
to  consist  of  three  Judges,  any  two  of  whom  to  form  a  court, 
wliosliall  liave  a  common  hiw  of  jurisdiction,  and  reside  in  tlie 
district,  and  liave  eacli  therein  a  freeliold  estate  in  5U0  acres 
of  land,  wliile  in  the  exercise  of  their  offices;  and  tiieir  com- 
missions shall  continue  in  force  during  good  behavior. 

The  Governor  and  Judges,  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall 
adopt  and  publish  in  the  district  such  laws  of  the  original 
States,  criminal  and  ci\'il,  as  may  be  necessaiy,  and  best 
suited  to  the  circumstances  of  the  district,  and  report  them 
to  Congress  from  time  to  time;  which  laws  sliall  be  in  force 
in  the  district  until  the  organization  of  the  General  Assembly 
therein,  unless  disapproved  of  by  Congress;  but,  afterwards, 
the  Legislature  shall  have  authority  to  alter  them  as  they  shall 
think  fit. 

The  Governor  for  the  time  being  shall  be  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  militia,  appoint  and  commission  all  officers  in  the 
same  below  the  rank  of  general  officers  ;  all  general  officers 
shall  be  appointed  and  commissioned  by  Congress. 

Previous  to  the  organization  of  the  General  Assembly,  the 
Governor  shall  appoint  such  magistrates,  and  other  civil  offi- 
cers, in  each  county  or  township,  as  he  shall  find  necessary 
for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  good  order  in  the  same; 
After  the  General  Assembly  shall  be  oi-ganized,  the  power* 
and  duties  of  magistrates  and  other  civil  officers,  shall  be 
regulated  and  defined  by  the  said  Assembly;  but  all  magistrates 
and  other  civil  officers,  not  lierein  otlierwise  directed,  shall, 
during  the  continuance  of  this  temporary  government,  be 
appointed  by  the  Governor. 

For  tlie  prevention  of  crimes  and  injuries,  the  laws  to  be 
adopted  or  made  shall  have  force  in  all  ])arts  of  the  district, 
and  for  the  execution  of  process,  criminal  and  civil,  tlie 
Governor  shall  make  proper  divisions  thereof;  and  he  shall 
proceed,  from  time  to  time,  as  circumstances  may  require,  to 
lay  out  the  parts  of  tlie  district  in  which  the  Indian  titles 
shall  have  been  extinguished,  into  counties  and  townships, 
suljject,  however,  to  such  alterations  as  may  thereafter  be  made 
by  the  Legislature. 

So  soon  as  there  shall  be  5,000  free  male  inhabitants 
of  full  age  in  the  district,  upon  giving  proof  thereof  to  the 
Governor,  they  shall  receive  authority,  with  time  and  place, 


THE    OKDINANCE    OF    1787.  277 

to  elect  Tlepreseiitatives  from  their  counties  or  townships 
to  represent  them  in  the  General  Assembly:  Provided,  That, 
tor  every  500  free  male  inhabitants,  there  shall  be  one  Repre- 
sentative, and  so  on  progressively  with  the  nnmber  (jf  free 
male  inhabitants,  shall  the  right  of  representation  increase, 
until  the  number  of  Representatives  shall  amount  to  twenty- 
five  ;  after  which,  the  number  and  proportion  of  Representa- 
tives shall  be  regulated  by  the  Legislature  :  Provided.  That 
no  person  be  eligible  or  qualified  to  act  as  a  Representative 
unless  he  shall  have  been  a  citizen  of  one  of  tiie  United 
States  three  years,  and  be  a  resident  in  the  district,  or  unless 
he  shall  have  resided  in  the  district  three  years  ;  and,  in 
either  case,  shall  likewise  hold  in  his  own  right,  in  fee  simple, 
two  hundred  acres  of  land  within  the  same:  Provided,  also, 
That  a  freehold  in  fifty  acres  of  land  in  the  district,  having 
been  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  States,  and  being  resident  in 
the  district,  or  the  like  freehold  and  two  years'  residence  in 
the  district,  shall  be  necessary  to  qualify  a  man  as  an  elector 
of  a  Representative. 

The  Representatives  thus  elected,  shall  serve  for  the  term  of 
two  years  :  and,  in  case  of  the  death  of  a  Representative,  or 
removal  from  office,  the  Governor  shall  issue  a  writ  to  the 
county  or  township  for  which  he  was  a  member,  to  elect 
another  in  his  stead,  to  serve  for  the  residue  of  the  term. 

The  General  Assembly,  or  Legislature,  shall  consist  of  the 
Governor,  Legislative  Council,  and  a  House  of  Representa- 
tives. The  Legislative  Council  shall  consist  of  five  members, 
to  continue  in  office  five  years,  vinless  sooner  removed  by 
Congress;  any  three  of  whom  to  be  a  quorum:  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  shall  be  nominated  and  appointed  in  the 
following  manner,  to  wit  :  As  soon  as  Representatives  shall 
be  elected,  the  Governor  shall  appoint  a  time  and  place  for 
them  to  meet  together;  and  when  met  they  shall  nominate 
ten  persons,  residents  in  the  district,  and  each  possessed  of  a 
freehold  in  five  huiulred  acres  of  land,  and  return  their  names 
to  Congress;  five  of  whom  Congress  shall  appoint  and  com- 
mission to  serve  as  aforesaid ;  and,  whenever  a  vacancy  shall 
happen  in  the  Council,  by  death  or  removal  from  office,  the 
House  of  Representatives  shall  nominate  two  persons,  quali- 
fied as  aforesaid,  for  each  vacancy,  and  retnrn  their  names  to 
Congress;  one  of  whom  Congress  shall  appoint  and  commis- 
sion for  the  residue  of  the  term.     And  ev^ry  five  years,  four 


27S  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

months  at  least  before  the  expiration  of  the  time  of  service  of 
the  members  of  tlie  Council,  the  said  House  shall  nominate 
ten  persons,  qualitied  as  aforesaid,  and  return  their  names  to 
Congress;  five  of  whom  Congress  shall  appoint  and  commis- 
sion to  serve  as  members  of  the  Council  five  years,  unless 
sooner  removed.  And  the  Governor,  Legislative  Council, 
and  House  of  Representatives,  shall  have  authority  to  make 
laws  in  all  cases,  for  the  good  government  of  the  district,  not 
repugnant  to  the  principles  and  articles  in  this  ordinance 
established  and  declared.  And  all  l)ills,  having  passed  by  a 
majority  in  the  House,  and  by  a  majoiity  in  the  Council, shall 
be  referred  to  the  Governor  for  his  assent;  but  no  bill,  or 
legislative  act  whatever,  shall  be  of  any  force  without  his 
assent.  The  Governor  shall  have  power  to  convene,  prorogue, 
and  dissolve  the  General  Assembly,  when,  in  his  opinion,  it 
shall  be  expedient. 

The  Governor,  Judges,  Legislative  Council,  Secretary,  and 
such  other  ofKcers  as  Congress  shall  appoint  in  the  district, 
shall  take  an  oath  of  affirmation  of  fidelity  and  of  (office;  the 
Governor  before  the  President  of  Congress,  and  all  other  offi- 
cers befoi'e  the  Governor.  As  soon  as  a  Legislature  shall  be 
formed  in  the  district,  the  Council  and  House  assembled  in 
one  room,  shall  have  authority,  by  joint  ballot,  to  elect  a  Del- 
egate to  Congress,  who  shall  have  a  seat  in  Congress,  with  a 
right  of  debating,  but  not  of  voting,  during  this  tem])orary 
government. 

And,  for  extending  the  fundamental  princij^les  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  wliich  form  the  basis  whereon  these  i-epublics, 
their  laws  and  constitutions  are  erected;  to  fix  and  establish 
those  principles  as  the  basis  of  all  laws,  constitutions,  and 
governments,  which  forever  hereafter  shall  be  formed  in  the 
said  territory;  to  ])rovide  also  for  the  establishment  of  States, 
and  permanent  government  therein,  and  for  their  admission 
to  a  share  in  the  Federal  Councils  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States,  at  as  early  periods  as  may  be  consistent  with 
the  general  interest: 

It  is  hereby  ordained  and  declared  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  the  following  articles  shall  be  considered  as  arti- 
cles of  compact  between  the  original  States  and  the  people 
and  States  in  the  said  Territoi-y,  and  forever  remain  unalter- 
able, unless  In-  common  consent,  to  wit: 

Akt.  L     ^o  person,  demeaning  himself  in  a  peaceable  and 


o 


THE    OKDINANCE    OF    1787.  279 

orderly  manner,  shall  ever  be  molested  on  account  of  his 
mode  of  worship  or  religious  sentiments,  in  the  said  Territory. 

Aet.  II.  The  inhabitants  of  the  said  Territory  shall  always 
be  entitled  to  the  benetits  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  of 
the  trial  by  jury,  of  a  proportionate  representation  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  Legislature;  and  of  judicial  proceedings  according 
to  the  course  of  common  law.  All  persons  shall  be  l)ailable, 
unless  for  capital  ofl'enses,  where  the  proof  shall  be  evident 
or  the  presumption  great.  All  tines  shall  be  moderate;  and 
no  cruel  or  unusual  punishments  shall  be  inflicted.  No  man 
shall  be  deprived  of  his  liberty  or  property,  but  by  the  judg- 
ment of  his  peers  or  the  law  of  the  land;  and,-  should  the 
public  exigencies  make  it  necessar}',  for  the  common  jireserva- 
tion,  to  take  any  person's  property,  or  to  demand  his  particular 
services,  full  compensation  shall  be  nu\de  for  the  same.  And, 
in  the  just  preservation  of  rights  and  property,  it  is  understood 
and  declared,  that  no  law  ought  ever  to  be  made,  or  have  force 
in  the  said  territory,  that  shall,  in  any  manner  whatever,  inter- 
fere with  or  affect  private  contracts  or  engagements,  bona  fide, 
and  without  fraud,  previously  formed. 

Aet.  III.  Religion,  morality  and  knowledge,  being  ne- 
cessary to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  l)e  encour- 
aged. The  utmost  good  faith  shall  always  be  observed  towards 
the  Indians;  their  lands  and  property  shall  never  be  taken 
from  them  without  their  consent:  and,  in  their  property, 
rights  and  libert}',  they  shall  never  be  invaded  or  disturbed, 
unless  in  just  and  lawful  wars  authorized  by  Congress;  but 
laws  founded  in  justice  and  humanitn',  shall,  from  time  to 
time,  be  made  for  preventing  wrongs  being  done  to  them,  and 
for  preserving  peace  and  friendship  with  them. 

Art.  IV.  The  said  Territory,  and  States  which  may  be 
formed  therein,  shall  forever  remain  a  part  of  this  Confed- 
Bracy  of  the  United  States  of  America,  subject  to  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  and  to  such  alterations  therein  as  shall 
be  constitutionally  made;  and  to  all  the  acts  and  ordinances  of 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  conformable  thereto. 
The  inhabitants  and  settlers  in  the  said  Territory  shall  be  sub- 
ject to  pay  a  part  of  the  federal  debts  contracted,  or  tg  be 
contracted,  and  a  proportional  part  of  the  expenses  of  gov- 
ernment, to  be  apportioned  on  them  by  Congress  according  to 
the  same  common  rule  and  measure  by  which  apportionments 


280  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

thereof  shall  be  made  on  the  other  states;  and  the  taxes,  for 
paying  their  proportion,  shall  be  laidand  levied  l)y  the  author- 
ity and  direction  of  the  Legishitures  of  the  district  or  districts, 
or  new  States,  as  in  theoriginal  States,  within  the  time  agreed, 
upon  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled.  The  Leg- 
islatures of  those  districts  or  new  States  shall  never  interfere 
with  the  primary  disposal  of  the  soil  by  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  nor  with  any  regulations  Congress  may 
find  necessary  for  securing  the  title  in  such  soil  to  the  bona 
fide  purchasers.*  No  tax  shall  be  imposed  on  lands  the])rop- 
erty  of  the  United  States;  and,  in  no  case,  shall  non-resident 
proprietors  be  taxed  higher  than  residents.  The  navigable 
waters  leading  into  the  Slississippi  and  St.  Lawrence,  and  the 
carrying  places  between  the  same,  shall  be  common  highways, 
and  forever  free,  as.  well  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  Terri- 
tory as  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  those  of  any 
other  States  that  may  be  admitted  into  the  Confederacy,  with- 
out any  tax,  impost  or  duty,  therefor. 

Art.  V.  There  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  Territory,  not 
less  than  three  nor  more  than  five  States;  and  the  bound- 
aries of  the  States,  as  soon  as  Virginia  shall  alter  her  act  of 
cession,  and  consent  to  the  same,  shall  become  fixed  and 
established  as  follows,  to  wit:  The  western  State  in  the  said 
Territory,  sbull  be  bounded  by  the  Mississippi,  the  ()liio  and 
Wabash  Rivers;  a  direct  line  drawn  from  the  Wabash  and 
Post  St.  Vincent's  due  north,  to  the  territorial  line  between 
the  United  States  and  Canada;  and,  by  the  said  territorial 
line  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  Mississippi.  The  middle 
State  shall  be  bounded' by  the  said  direct  line,  the  Waliasli  from 
Post  St.  Vincent's  to  the  Ohio,  by  the  Ohio,  by  a  direct  lino 
drawn  due  north  from  the  mouth  of  the,  (ji'eat  Miami,  to  the 
said  territorial  line.  The  eastern  State  shall  be  bounded  by  the 
last  mentioned  direct  line,  the  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  said 
territorial  line:  Provided, /toiveve?',  und  it  is  further  uniler- 
stood  and  declared,  that  the  boundaries  of  these  three  States 
shall  be  subject  so  far  to  be  altered,  that  if  Congress  shall 
hereafter  find  it  expedient,  they  shall  have  autliority  to  form 
one  or  two  States  in  that  jiart  of  the  said  territoiy  which  lies 


*Art  of  35th  February,  1811,  provides  the  same  in  Louisiana;  aud,  also, 
that  lands  sold  by  Congress  shall  not  be  taxed  for  iive  years  after  sale — in 
Mississippi,  by  act  of  1st  .March,  1817,  and  so  of  all  others. 


THE    LIl  ERAL    CHARACTEK    OF    THE    ORDINANCE.  281 

north  of  an  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the  soutlierlj 
bend  or  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan.  And,  whenever  any  of 
the  said  States  shall  have  60.000  free  inhabitants  therein,  such 
State  shall  be  admitted,  by  its  delegates,  into  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States 
in  all  respects  whatever,  and  shall  be  at  liberty  to  forni  a  per- 
manent Constitution  and  State  Government:  Provided^  the 
constitution  and  government  so  to  be  formed,  shall  be  repub- 
lican, and  in  conformity  to  the  principles  contained  in  these 
articles;  and  so  far  as  it  can  be  consistent  with  the  general 
interest  of  the  confederacy,  such  admission  shall  be  allowed 
at  an  earlier  period,  and  wiien  there  may  be  a  less  number  of 
free  inhabitants  in  the  state  than  sixty  thousand. 

Art.  VI.  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  ser- 
vitude in  the  said  Territory,  otherwise  tlian  in  the  punishment 
of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted: 
Provided,  always,  That  any  person  escaping  into  the  same, 
from  whom  lab(jr  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in  any  one  of 
the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaimed 
and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her  labor  or  ser- 
vice as  aforesaid. 

This  ordinance  was  an  instrument  of  great  significance. 
It  defined,  simply  and  clearly,  the  relations  of  the  territory 
not  organized  into  sovereign  states  to  the  rest  of  the  country. 
As  this  territory  was  held  to  be  the  common  property  of  all 
the  states,  theircommon  liberties  were  introduced  into  it.  No 
citizen  of  any  state  could  feel  himself  deprived  of  any  general 
rights  by  removal  to  it.  Provision  was  made  for  as  vigorous  a 
government  from  the  first,  under  the  oversight  of  the  National 
Legislature,  as  the  scattered  condition  of  the  settlers  permitted 
for  the  election  of  a  Territorial  Legislature  as  soon  as  the  free 
male  inhabitants  of  legal  age  numbered  5,000;  and  for  the 
formation  of  States  in  the  new  Territory,  and  their  admission 
into  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States, 
as  soon  as  a  moderately  numerous  popiilation  flowed  in.  It 
defined  the  future  and  cheered  the  settlers  with  the  assui'ance 
of  care,  protection  and  ultimate  eijuality  with  other  sections 
and  local  independence,  setting  at  rest  the  questionings  and 


382  THK    MISSISSIPP.    VALLEY. 

strivings  that  had  so  long  disturbed  Kentucliy  and  Tennessee. 

It  was,  virtually,  a  territorial  constitution.  Although,  iu 
form  and  origin  but  a  law  of  Congress,  and  subject  to  repeal 
and  alteration  by  the  same,  or  any  subsequent,  Congress,  it 
laid  down  principles  so  just  and  wise  as  to  be  accepted  by 
future  legislators  as  an  autlioritative  precedent,  and  presided, 
thenceforth,  over  the  destinies  of  all  the  common  possessions 
of  the  Union  and  the  preliminary  organization  of  more  than 
twenty  states.  It  illustrates  the  admirable  (puility  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  mind,  which  plants  itself  on  principles  rather 
than  forms,  but  which,  having  found  a  suitable  form  for  the 
expression  of  an  important  principle,  steadfastly  respects  that 
form  so  long  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  growth.  The  Eng- 
lish Constitution  is  quite  made  up  of  such  precedents,  and  the 
real  Constitution  of  tiie  United  States  is  by  no  means  wholly 
contained  in  the  written  instrument  bearing  that  name. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  rested,  in  one  point,  on  a  compro- 
mise such  as  has  rarely  been  seen  but  among  people  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  descent,  whose  good  sense,  moderation,  and  bargaining 
instincts  have  often  enabled  them  to  avoid  dangerous  conflicts, 
and  even  sometimes  to  draw  additional  security  and  strength 
from  what  seemed  elements  of  certain  ruin.  The  introduc- 
tion of  slavery  into  Virginia,  in  1620,  proved  fruitful  of 
dangers  and  disasters  to  American  liberty.  Moral,  social  and 
industrial  antagonisms  gradually  sprung  out  of  it  and  threat- 
ened the  peace  and  stability  of  the  Union  from  its  beginning. 
The  instinctive  foresight  of  danger,  the  causes  of  which  they 
could  not  agree  to  banish  altogether,  led  them  to  compare 
interests  and  views  and  ascertain  what  settlement  of  them  was 
possible.  Collision,  apparently,  would  be  fatal;  union  was 
indispensable;  therefore  they  made  terms  with  each  other, 
giving  the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  to  tlie  free  labor  sys- 
tem, and  that  south  of  the  Ohio  to  the  forced  \ahor  system. 
Compromises  are  often  but  a  temporary  settlement  of  dis- 
putes, since  something  is  sacrificed  on  eitlier  side  for  the  sake 


THE    KEASONS    FOR    EAKLV    COMPROMISES.  283 

of  liarmoii3'.  If  the  principles,  or  interests,  sacrificed  con- 
tinue to  diverge  instead  of  melting  into  each  other,  with  the 
progress  of  time,  the  compromise  not  only  fails  but  renders 
future  settlement  more  difficult;  the  idea  of  unfaithfulness  to 
tlie  terms  of  the  original  compact  embittering  one  or  both 
parties. 

This  difficulty  subsequently  rose  into  very  formidable  pro- 
portions on  the  slavery  question  ;  but  the  situation  immedi- 
ately after  the  Revolution  seemed  too  critical  to  allow  a  vio- 
lent contest,  and  neither  the  principles  nor  the  interests 
involved  were  sufficiently  well  developed  at  that  time  to 
impress  those  great  men  with  the  danger  which  a  compromise 
might  involve.  Other  dangers  seemed  to  them  more  imme- 
diate,  and  the  truce  between  the  two  systems  of  morality,  of' 
social  life,  and  of  labor  adjourned  conflict  and  permitted  the 
country  to  grow  strong  and  learn  its  own  mind  more  fully 
before  undertaking  a  final  solution  of  the  proI)leni.  The 
conflict  necessarily  grew  more  violent  as  principles  became 
more  shai'ply  defined,  as  interests  diverged,  and  the  strength 
of  the  parties  increased.  No  permanent  compromise  finally 
proved  possible  and  the  shock  was  fearful;  but  the  develop- 
ment of  strength  had  not  been  equal  and  the  free  section 
passed  through  it  with  ease,  coming  out  seemingly  stronger 
than  ever. 

Each  period  of  national  history  has  its  own  measure  of 
wisdom  and  foresight,  its  special  questions  to  settle,  and  its 
instinct  of  self-preservation.  The  compromises  involved  in 
the  Ordinance  of  1787  and  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  elaborated  a  little  later  in  that  year,  may  be  accepted, 
when  all  the  circumstances  and  difficulties  of  that  period  are 
weighed,  as  a  proof  of  the  patriotic  wisdom  and  moderation 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic.  They  deferred  a  dangerous 
quarrel  until  the  country  could  give  it  all  its  attention.  Other 
questions  involving  the  existence  of  the  State  required  all 
their  thoughts  and  energies. 


284  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

In  July,  17SS,  the  Ordinance  went  into  operation  in  the 
Northwest  Territory.  For  six  years  Indian  wars  retarded 
settlement;  but,  ten  years  after  the  foundations  of  the  first 
town  north  of  the  Ohio  were  laid  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Muskingum,  the  Territory  was  found  to  have  5,000  free  male 
inhabitants  over  21  years  of  age,  and  the  people  assumed  the 
duty  of  legislating  for  themselves.  Four  years  later  still,  the 
State  of  Ohio  took  her  place  in  the  Union.  Tlie  Territories 
of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin*were  succes- 
sively formed  iindei'  the  Ordinance,  as  population  extended 
into  them,  and  in  due  time  achieved  the  dignity  of  States  ; 
but  the  Territories  so  fully  managed  their  own  affairs,  that,  in 
most  respects,  the  change  of  political  status  afi'ected  the 
interests  of  the  people  but  slightly. 

The  Ordinance  which  became  a  virtual  constitution  for  the 
territories,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  sub- 
sequently adopted,  were  both  produced  in  tlie  summer  of  1787. 
The  first  was  almost  the  last  important  legislation  done  by 
the  old  "  Continental  Congress."  It  was  the  result  of  toler- 
ably calm  and  deliberate  discussion,  no  serious  difficulties 
interfering  to  prevent  its  becoming  a  satisfactory  expression 
of  the  convictions  of  its  framers.  The  Constitution,  on  the 
contrary,  was  agreed  upon  in  the  convention  with  diffi- 
culty, and  gave  complete  satisfaction  to  few  or  none  of  its 
makers.  It  was  largely  a  compromise  between  conflicting 
views  and  interests,  and  narrowly  escaped  rejection  by  the 
States  when  submitted  to  them.  But  the  institutions  it  organ- 
ized and  the  jealous  care  for  justice  and  e(]ual  liberty  among 
all  classes  and  sections — with  the  excej^tion  of  the  colored 
race — proved  equal  to  the  necessities  of  the  case.  It  was  a 
true  and  great  success. 

The  idea  of  an  organic,  and  not  merely  a  federal,  unity  was 
conveyed  by  its  preamble.  "We,  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  f(jr  the  common  defense, 


THE    STATES    AND    THE    UNITED    STATES.  285 

promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  lib- 
erty to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish 
this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America." 

Only  time  and  circumstances  could  build  up  a  true  senti- 
ment of  national  unity;  but,  though  the  form  and  expressions 
of  the  Constitution  are  a  proof  of  the  sagacity  of  it  framers, 
it  may  be  doubted  if  this  point  would  have  been  gained  but 
for  the  Valley  and  its  wonderful  growth,  the  broader  and 
more  national  feeling  which  sprung  up  in  the  new  interior 
states,  and  the  vast  interior  commerce  which  produced  a 
close  community  of  interests. 

The  relations  established  by  the  Constitution  between  the 
central  government  and  the  states,  and  which  exercised  a 
general  control  over  their  constitutional  history  and  form  of 
government,  are  seen  in  the  following  extracts  from  it.  The 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United. States 
over  those  of  the  States  is  affirmed  by  Article  VI.,  Section  2, 
as  follows: 

"  This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  land,  and  the  Judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution  or 
laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

Certain  valuable  guarantees  are  given  to  the  States  by-  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Article  IV.,  Section  4, 
secures  them  a  republican  form  of  government: 

"  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this 
Union,  a  republican  form  of  government;  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion,  and  on  application  of  the  Leg- 
islature, or  of  the  executive  (when  the  Legislature  can  not  be 
convened)  against  domestic  violence." 

Article  IV.,  Section  3.  provides  for  the  admission  of  new 
states  and  the  control  of  the  pul)lic  territory  and  property 
without  prejudice  to  the  interests  of  the  state. 


286  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

"New  states  may  l)e  admitted  by  Congress  into  this  Union; 
but  no  new  state  siiall  he  formed  or  erected  witiiin  the  juris- 
diction of  any  other  state,  nor  any  state  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  two  or  more  states,  or  parts  of  states,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Legislatures  of  the  states  concerned  as  well  as  of 
Congress.  * 

Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  need- 
ful rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory,  or  other 
property  belonging  to  the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this 
Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims 
of  the  United  States  or  of  any  particular  state." 

Each  state  is  to  be  duly  respected  by  all  the  others  by 
Article  IV.,  Section  1. 

"  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given,  in  each  state,  to  the 
public  acts,  records  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other 
state.  And  the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe  the 
manner  in  which  such  acts,  records  and  proceedings  shall  be 
proved,  and  the  effect  thereof." 

By  Article  I.,  Section  9,  they  are  secured  uniform  privileges 
and  a  free  inter-state  commerce. 

"  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any 
state.  No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of 
commerce  or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  state  over  those  of 
another  ;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to  or  from  one  state  be 
obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another." 

By  Article  IV.,  Section  2,  fugitives  from  justice  or  labor  in 
one  state  are  to  be  returned  by  the  others  on  due  legal  process. 

"  A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice  and  be  found  in  another  state, 
shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  state  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  state  hav- 
ing jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of 
any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service 
or  labor;  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to 
whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due." 

Article  IV,  Section  2,  gives  a  guai-anty  to  the  citizens  of 


PERSONAL    RIGHTS    SECURED    TO    ALL.  287 

each  state,  and  the  ten  first  Amendments  secure  many  valu- 
able personal  rights. 

"  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  priv- 
ileges and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states." 

"  Article  I.  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion  or  pi-ohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press  ; 
or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemlile.  and  to  peti- 
tion the  government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

Art.  II.  A  well  regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the 
security  of  a  free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and 
bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

Art.  III.  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered 
in  any  house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in  a  time 
of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

Art.  IV.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  houses,  papers  and  effects,  against  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated;  and  no  warrant 
shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or 
affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched 
and  the  person  or  things  to  be  seized. 

Art.  V.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital 
or  otlierwise  infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  in- 
dictment of  a  grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the 
land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia  when  in  actual  service, 
in  time  of  war  or  public  danger  ;  nor  shall  any  person  be 
subject,  for  the  same  offense,  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of 
life  or  limb,  nor  shall  be  compelled,  in  any  criminal  case, 
to  be  a  witness  against  himself ;  nor  be  deprived  of  life, 
liberty  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law  ;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  com- 
pensation. 

Art.  VI.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall 
enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial 
jury  of  the  state  and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have 
been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  previously 
ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and 
cause  of  the  accusation  ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses 
against  him  ;  to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  wit- 
nesses in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for 
his  defense. 


28S  THE  Mississii'Pi  vallicy. 

Akt.  YII.  In  suits  ;it  (.'oimuuii  law,  wliere  the  value  in 
controversy  shall  excetnl  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury  shall  be  preserved,  and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be 
otherwise  re-examined  in  any  court  of  the  United  States,  than 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

AuT.  VIII.  Excessive  bails  shall  not  be  required,  nor 
excessive  tines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments 
inflicted. 

Art.  IX.  The  enumeration  in  the  constitution,  of  certain 
rights,  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others 
retained  by  the  people. 

Akt.  X.  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States, 
by  the  constitution,  nor  prohibited  liy  it  to  the  states,  are  re- 
served to  the  states  respectively  or  to  the  people." 

Article  I,  Sections  1  and  2,  prohibits  certain  powers  to  the 
states  which  are  of  a  sovereign  nature. 

"  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confeder- 
ation; grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin  money,  emit 
bills  ot  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex-post- 
facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts  ;  or 
grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any 
imports  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the 
net  produce  of  all  duties  and  im])osts  laid  by  any  state  on 
imports  or  exports  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States,  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revis- 
ion and  control  of  Congress.  No  state  shall,  without  the 
consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty  on  tonnage,  keep  troops  or 
ships  of  war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or 
compact  with  another  state,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage 
in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger 
as  will  not  admit  of  delay." 

Article  I,  Section  8,  determines  the  extent  of  the  powers 
which,  being  granted  to  the  National  Legislature,  are  sub- 
tracted from  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  states: 

"  The  Congress  shall  have  power — 

To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay 


THE    CONSTITUTIONAL    I'OWERS    OF    CONGRESS.  289 

the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense  and  general 
welfare  of  the  tluited  States;  but  all  duties,  imposts  and  ex- 
cises sliall  be  uniform  thronghout  the  United  States: 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States: 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the 
several  states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes: 

To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform 
laws- on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies,  throughout  the  United 
States : 

To  coin  money  ;  to  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of 
foreign  coin  ;  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures : 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  secu- 
rities and  current  coin  of  the  United  States: 

To  establish  post  offices  and  post  roads: 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by 
securing  for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries: 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court: 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the 
high  seas,  and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations: 

To  declare  war  ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;  and 
make  rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water: 

To  raise  and  support  armies  ;  but  no  appropriation  of 
money  to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two 
years: 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy: 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the 
land  and  naval  forces  : 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the 
laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  inva- 
sions : 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming  and  disciplining  the 
militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  em- 
ployed in  the  service  of  the  United  States;  reserving  to  the 
States  respectively,  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the 
authority  of  training  the  militia,  according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress: 

To  exercise  exclusive   legislation   in   all  cases   whatsoever, 

over  such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may, 

by  cession  of  particular  States,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress, 

become  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and 

19 


290  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  purchased  by  the 
consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same  shall 
be,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards, 
and  other  needful  buildings:    And, 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other 

Bowers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the 
fnited  States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof" 

The  powers  bestowed  on  the  President  of  the  United 
States  are  chiefly  executive.  He  carries  into  effect  the  laws  of 
Congress  and  wields  the  supreme  power  confided  to  the  Gen- 
ieral  Government;  but  he  does  not  trench  on  the  prerogatives 
of  the  states  or  of  the  people  in  any  important  point  beyond 
those  above  mentioned. 

The  United  States  Judiciary  is  the  legal  judge  of  the  mean- 
ingof,  and  powers  conferred  by,  the  Federal  Constitution.  No 
restrictions  to  .th"e  constitutional  powers  of  the  states  and  the 
people  are,  t«  ^lefore,  expressed  or  implied  in  the  range  of 
authority  granted  to  the  Executive  and  Judicial  Departments 
of  the  General  Government  that  are  not  involved  in  the  grant 
made  to  the  Legislative  Branch  and  in  the  general  regulations 
guarding  the  national  authority.  The  states  and  the  people 
have  supreme  power  in  all  cases  where  it  is  not  expressly  taken 
from  them.  Federal  Sovereignty  is  general,  and  expressly  con- 
veyed; State  Sovereignty  is  local,  and  absolute  where  not 
expressly  limited. 

Congress  determined  the  time  when,  and  the  conditions 
under  which,  the  Territories  might  proceed  to  form  a  Consti- 
tution and  organize  a  State  Government ;  those  conditions 
having  been  met,  the  Constitution  adopted  having  provided 
a  republican  form  of  government,  and  containing  no  provi- 
sions conflicting  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
it  became  a  Sovereign  State  in  the  American  Union,  equal  in 
all  respects  to  the  original  States.  The  Valley  must  needs  be 
republican,  and  was  guaranteed  local  self-government.  Its 
general  interests  were  naturally  and  necessarily  identified,  by 


A  LIBERAL  INTEKPEETATION  OF  THE  COXt^TITUTION.  291 

its  character  and  situation,  with  those  of  other  sections  of  the 
country.  Its  loss  of  absolute  sovereignty  was  more  than  com- 
pensated by  sharing,  through  the  United  States  citizenship  of 
its  people,  representation  in  the  Federal  Congress,  and  free 
trade  with  other  sections  of  the  Union. 

The  theory  of  state  and  popular  rights  presented  in  the 
Constitution  was  liberally  interpreted,  at  least  through  all 
the  periods  that  have  been  under  review.  The  thirteen  states 
that  had  united  in  the  Revolution  had  previously  been  inde- 
pendent of  each  other;  thej'  looked  with  suspicion  on  a  strong 
central  authority,  and  naturally  maintained  all  the  rights  of 
the  states.  It  was  an  acknowledged  government  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  classes  and  sections  could  be  favored  only  with  the 
consent  of  the  people  themselves.  The  Valley  was  the  domain 
of  all  the  people,  was  principally  settled  by  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  and  wholly  ruled  by  them-;  It  contained 
the  sources  of  wealth  and  greatness  for  the  tl  ern  capitalist, 
manufacturer  and  trader  as  for  the  Republic  itself;  common 
treasures  and  interests  were  bound  up  in  its  prosperity,  and  it 
was  constantly  treated  with  a  tairly  wise  liberality. 

No  irksome  conditions  were  devised,  no  meddlesome  inter- 
ference was  practiced,  and  an  interpretation  of  the  funda- 
mental law  more  frank,  just  and  kind  could  not  easily  have 
been  imagined.  When  sectional  difficulties  found  entrance 
they  were  not  between  the  Valley  and  the  East,  but  between 
labor  systems  and  social  habits  which  compromises  had 
divided  by  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line ;  between  free  and 
slave  states — North  and  South.  Constitutionally,  the  Valley 
was  dealt  with  most  fairly  and  no  people  ever  had  a  better 
opportunity  to  manage  their  own  affairs  at  their  own  will. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


STATE    CONSTITUTIONS. 


The  two  first  States  organized  in  the  Valley — Kentucky 
and  Tennessee — having  been  largely  settled  while  they  re- 
mained parts  of  the  States  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
some  of  the  forms  of  admission  as  of  preliminary  organiza- 
tion, which  became  customary  afterward,  were  omitted.  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1791,  Congress  consented  to  the  admission  of  Ken- 
tucky June  1,  1792;  while  the  Convention  which  framed  its 
Constitution  did  not  assemble  until  April  3, 1792,  closing  their 
labors  the  19th  of  the  same  month.  The  Constitution  was 
not  submitted  for  approval  either  to  Congress  or  to  the  people 
of  Kentucky,  but  went  into  operation  without  opposition. 

Representation  was  based  on  the  free  male  inhabitants  21 
years  of  age.  The  form  of  the  government  was,  in  general, 
what  it  continues  to  be  after  two  revisals,  and  substan- 
tially the  same  as  those  afterwards  adopted  by  all  the  new 
States.  It  followed,  in  many  respects,  the  forms  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  dividing  the  government  into 
three  branches:  Legislative.  E.xecutive  and  Judicial.  Tlie 
Legislature,  called  the  General  Assembly,  consisted  of  a  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives.  The  Governor  and  Senators 
were  appointed  by  electors  chosen  by  the  people.  Both  of 
these  held  office  for  four  years;  the  Representatives  for  one 
year.  There  was  no  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  President  ol 
the  Senate  acting  as  Governor  in  case  of  a  vacancy.  The 
Judges  were  elected  by  the  people,  but  held  office  during  good 
behavior. 

In  1799  this  Constitution  was  revised,  giving  the  election 
of  Governor  and  Senators  directly  to  the  people,  and  pro- 
viding for  a  Lieutenant-Governor.     In  1850  another  revision 


THE   STATE    CONSTITtlTION    OF    TENNESSEE.  293 

was  made  which  gave  the  Judges  definite  terms  of  office. 
Change  has  been  in  the  direction  of  more  complete  popular 
control  over  lawmakers  and  officers. 

Tennessee  elected  a  Convention,  which  completed  the  prep- 
aration of  a  Constitution  February  6,  1796,  and  soon  after 
transmitted  a  copy  of  it  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  notification  that  the  Legislature  would  meet 
March  28,  following,  to  act  on  the  Constitution,  and  that  the 
Territorial  Government  would  then  cease.  These  confident 
measures,  taken  without  a  previous  Enabling  Act  of  Con- 
.gress,  produced  some  opposition  in  that  body,  but  the  Bill 
admitting  the  State  become  a  law  June  1, 1796.  The  Senate, 
House  of  Representatives  and  Governor  were  elected  every 
two  years.  The  Legislature  met  every  other  year.  There 
was  no  Lieutenant-Governor;  the  Governor  could  serve  but 
six  years  out  of  eight  ;  and  the  Speaker  of  tlie  Senate 
acted  as  Governor  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in  that  office.  The 
Judges  and  State  and  District  Attorneys  were  appointed 
by  joint  ballot  of  both  Houses,  and  held  their  offices  during 
good  behavior.  Ministers  of  the  gospel  and  infidels  were 
ineligible  to  civil  office.  Every  freeman,  who  was  a  free- 
holder, 21  years  of  age,  was  a  voter. 

In  1835  an  amended  Constitution  was  ratified  by  the  people. 
The  principal  changes  related  to  the  number  of  Representa- 
tives and  Senators.  In  1853  an  amendment  gave  the  election 
of  the  Judges  to  the  people  with  a  term  of  eight  years,  and  a 
term  of  six  years  to  State  and  District  Attorneys.  The  gen- 
eral forms  of  the  Constitution  were  like  those  of  Kentucky. 
The  same  care  for  common  school  education  was  evinced.  The 
new  Constitution  of  1835  made  every  free  white  citizen,  resi- 
dent six  months  in  the  county,  a  voter. 

Slavery  in  these  States  had  been  inherited  from  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  Some  effort  was  made,  in  1799,  to  secure 
its  gradual  abolition  in  Kentucky,  but  without  effect.  The 
first  Constitution  of  Tennesssee  did   not  mention   slavery; 


294  THE  Mississirri  vaxley. 

but  the  laws  of   North  Carolina,  which  were  adopted,  sus- 
tained it. 

Ohio,  then  called  the  Northwest  Territory,  was  authorized 
by  Act  of  Congress,  April  30,  1802,  to  form  a  State  Govern- 
ment. The  Convention  appointed  for  the  purpose  completed 
the  first  Constitution  November  29,  of  the  same  year,  which 
was  approved  by  Congress  February  19,  1803,  and  Ohio 
recognized  as  a  State  in  the  Union.  The  Governor  and 
Senators  were  elected  for  two  years,  the  Representatives  for 
one  year;  the  other  State  officers  and  judges  were  appointed 
by  joint  ballot  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  Governor^ 
must  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  twelve  years, 
resident  in  the  State  four  years,  and  thirty  years  of  age. 
The  free  use  of  the  veto  power  by  General  St.  Clair,  while 
Governor  of  the  territory,  had  given  much  dissatisfaction 
which  led  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  to  exclude  the 
Governor  from  all  connection  with  the  enactment  of  laws. 
In  most  of  the  States  the  Governor's  approval  and  signature 
were  essential  to  the  validity  of  a  law.  Only  white  male 
inhabitants  21  years  of  age,  one  year  resident  in  the  State, 
were  legal  voters.  The  sessions  of  the  Legislature  were 
annual.  There  was  no  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Speaker  of 
the  Senate  filling  any  vacancy  occurring  in  that  office. 

A  new  Constitution  was  approved  by  the  people  h\  1S51. 
By  this  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature  were  made  biennial, 
and  the  terms  of  the  Representatives  extended  to  two  years. 
State  officers  and  Judges  were  to  be  elected  by  the  people, 
and  the  elective  principle  was  made  general.  Eight  Arti- 
cles, relating  to  education  and  benevolent  institutions,  to  the 
public  debt  and  public  works,  to  County  and  Township  organ- 
izations and  apportionment  for  election  purposes,  to  a  revision 
of  the  laws  and  th»  'i^ode  of.amending  the  Constitution,  as 
also  the  election  of"  a  ^_  itenant-Governor,  were  added. 

April  19,  1816,  Congress  passed  an  Enabling  Act,  author- 
izing Indiana  to  form  a  State  Constitution,  wliich  instrument 


CONSTITUTIONS    OF    INDIANA    AND    LOUISIANA.  295 

was  completed  by  the  Convention  June  29,  of  that  year, 
and  Indiana  was  recognized  as  a  State  in  the  Union  by  joint 
resolution  of  Congress,  December  11,  following.  The  Consti- 
tution was  not  submitted  to  the  people. 

Tlie  sessions  of  the  Legislature  were  annual,  the  "Represent- 
atives elected  for  one  year,  the  Senators,  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor for  three  years.  All  white  males  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  resident  in 
the  State  and  County  one  year,  were  legal  voters.  The  same 
qualifications  were  required  in  candidates  for  the  House  of 
Kepresentatives.  Senators  must  be  twenty -five  years  of  age, 
two  years  resident  in  the  State  and  one  in  the  count}'  or  dis- 
trict. The  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  must  have 
been  citizens  of  the  United  States  for  ten  years,  rive  years 
resident  in  the  State.  The  State  ofiicers  were  appointed  by 
joint  ballot  of  the  two  Houses  of  the  Legislature;  the  Judges 
by  the  Governor  and  Senate,  for  seven  years.  The  Governor 
was  ineligible  more  than  six  years  in  nine. 

In  1851  a  new  Constitution  was  adopted.  It  introduced 
the  elective  principle  generally.  The  terms  of  Senators, 
Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  were  extended  to  four 
years ;  the  terms  of  Judges  were  reduced  to  six  years.  Vari- 
ous changes  were  made  in  the  wording,  additions  made  to  the 
Bill  of  Rights,  and  Articles  inserted  concerning  State  benevo- 
lent institutions,  finance,  forbidding  immigration  of  colored 
persons  into  the  State,  and  boundaries. 

Louisiana  was  organized  as  a  Territory  of  the  First  Class — 
that  is,  with  a  Legislature  elected  by  its  inhabitants — March 
2,  1805,  and  called  Orleans.  February  20,  1811,  it  wa.^  author- 
ized, by  Act  of  Congress,  to  form  a  Constitution  and  State  Gov- 
ernment in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  with  republican  principles  as  understood  by  Amer- 
icans. A  Convention  having  fram  jiistitution  accepta- 
ble to  Congress,  it  was  submitted  to,  and  approved  by,  the 
people  of   Louisiana,  and   it  became  a  State  in  the  Union, 


296  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

April  30,  1812.  It  was  the  first  State  formed  in  territory 
not  belonging  to  the  United  States  when  the  Constitution 
was  adopted,  and  fear  was  expressed  in  Congress  that  its 
admission  was  unconstitutional  and  might  lead  to  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Union;  but  the  powerful  principle  of  unity  con- 
tributed by  the  Valley  as  a  whole  was  much  strengthened  by 
the  admission  of  a  State  controlling  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 

This  Constitution  was,  apparently,  modeled  on  that  adopted 
by  Kentucky,  in  1799,  in  its  form  and  general  pi'ovisions.  The 
sessions  of  the  Legislature  were  annual;  the  Senators  and  Gov- 
ernor were  elected  for  four  years,  and  the  Representatives  for 
two;  Judges  were  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate  dur- 
ing good  behavior. 

November  5, 1845,  the  people  of  Louisiana  adopted  a  revised 
Constitution.  Sessions  of  the  Legislature  were  made  biennial 
and  some  other  changes  were  introduced.  In  18.52  a  Conven- 
tion again  revised  the  Constitution,  which  was  ratified  by  the 
people  in  the  same  year.  Legislative  sessions  became  annual 
again,  the  Judiciary  and  nearly  all  subordinate  officers  were 
made  elective  for  the  first  time.  A  Board  of  Public  Works 
was  created  and  public  schools  were  provided  for  more  fully. 
Every  fi'ee  white  male  tM'enty -one  years  of  age,  who  was  a  citi- 
zen of  the  United  States,  a  resident  of  the  State  one  year  and 
of  the  parish  six  months,  was  made  a  voter,  and  also  eligible 
to  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  and  the  Senate.  A  Repre- 
sentative served  two  years,  a  Senator  four  years.  The  Gov- 
ernor and  Lieutenant-Governor  must  be  twenty -eight  years  old 
and  four  years  citizens  and  residents  of  the  State.  The  Gover- 
nor's term  was  four  years,  and  he  was  ineligible  for  the  suc- 
ceeding term.  In  this  State,  as  in  several  others  in  the  Valley, 
civil  officers  were  required  to  make  oath  that  they  had  not  sent 
or  accepted  a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel,  nor  acted  as  seconds  in 
one. 

March   1,  1817,  an  Enabling  Act  of  Congress  authorized 


CONSTITUTIONS    OF    MISSISSIITI    AND    ALABAMA.  297 

Mississippi  to  form  a  State  Government.  Its  Constitution 
was  completed  by  the  Convention  August  15,  approved  by 
the  people,  and  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union  by 
joint  resolution  of  Congress,  December  10,  of  the  same  year. 
In  1S32  the  people  ratified  a  new  Constitution,  which  changed 
the  sessions  of  the  Legislature  from  annual  to  biennial,  the 
terms  of  Representatives  from  one  to  two  years,  and  Senators 
from  three  to  four  years;  the  form  of  the  Judiciary  was  some- 
what changed,  and,  from  being,  at  first,  appointed  by  joint 
vote  of  the  two  Houses  of  the  General  Assembly  during  good 
behavior,  the  Judges  were  elected  by  the  people  for  a  term  of 
six  years.  A  Chancellor  was  elected  for  six  years.  Judges  of 
the  Circuit  Court  for  four  years,  and  Justices  of  the  Peace  for 
two  years.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  exam])le  among 
American  Constitutions  of  making  the  Judiciary*  elective,  but 
it  soon  became  almost  universal. 

Every  free  white  male  21  years  of  age,  who  was  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  resident  one  year  in  the  State  and  four 
months  in  the  place  of  voting,  was  made  an  elector  or  voter. 
Kepresentatives  must  be  21  years  old,  have  resided  two  years 
in  the  State  and  one  year  in  the  county  or  town  ;  Senators 
must  be  30  years  old,  have  resided  four  years  in  the  State 
and  one  in  the  district;  and  the  Governor  must  be  30  years 
of  age,  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  20  years 
and  resident  in  the  State  five  years.  He  was  eligible  only 
four  years  in  six. 

An  Enabling  Act  of  Congress  permitted  Alabama  to  form 
a  State  Government,  March  2,  1819.  A  Constitution  was 
completed  by  the  Convention,  ratified  by  the  people,  and  the 
State  admitted  by  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  December 
14,  1819.  This  Constitution  resembled  that  of  Mississippi. 
Amendments  were  to  be  proposed  by  the  General  Assembly 
and  voted  on  by  the  people.  Changes  were  made  in  1830, 
1846  and  1850.  Sessions  of  the  Legislature  were,  at  first, 
annual,  but,  after  1846,  biennial,  and  elections  of  members  of 


298  THE  Mississim  vali,ey. 

the  House  changed  in  the  same  way,  while  the  terms  of  Sena- 
tors were  changed  from  thi-ee  to  four  years.  In  1830  the  term 
of  the  Judges  was  limited  to  six  years.  It  had  before  been 
durinij  good  behavior. 

A  voter  must  be  a  white  man  21  years  of  age,  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  resident  one  year  in  the  State  and 
three  months  within  the  county,  city  or  town.  A  Repre- 
sentative must  have  resided  in  the  State  two  years,  in  the 
county,  city  or  town  he  represents  one  year,  and  be  twenty- 
one  years  old.  A  Senator  with  the  same  residence  must  be 
twenty-seven  years  of  age.  The  Governor  must  be  thirty 
years  of  age,  a  native  citizen  of  the  United  States,  resident 
four  years  in  the  State. 

Illinois  was  authorized  to  form  a  Constitution  and  State 
Government,  by  an  Enabling  Act  of  Congress,  April  IS, 
1818.  A  Constitution,  approved  by  the  people,  was  presented 
to  Congress  and  approved  by  it,  December  3,  in  the  same 
year.  The  Legislature  held  biennial  sessions.  Rejjresenta- 
tives  were  elected  for  two  years.  Senators,  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor for  four  years.  All  white  male  inhabitants, 
resident  six  months  in  the  State,  were  authorized  to  vote. 
Most  of  the  subordinate  officers  were  appointed — the  Judges 
and  State  officers  by  joint  ballot  of  the  two  Houses  of  the 
General  Assembly,  others  by  the  Governor  and  Senate.  The 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  associated  with  the  Gov- 
ernor in  ap]>roving  laws  before  their  passage — a  novel  feature 
in  the  Valley. 

A  revised  Constitution  was  approved  b\'  the  people  in  1848. 
The  elective  principle  took  the  place  of  appointment,  the  veto 
power  was  confided  to  the  Governor  alone.  The  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  were  elected  for  nine  years,  of  the  District 
Courts  for  six  years.  County  Judges  for  four  years.  A  Rep- 
resentative must  be  twenty-five  years  old,  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  three  years  resident  in  the  State,  and  one  year 
in  the  county  or  district.     A  Senator  must  be  thirty  years  of 


M 


OONSTITUTIONS    OF    ILLINOIS    AND    MISSOURI.  299 

age,  a  citizen  of  the  ITnited  States,  live  years  resident  in  the 
State  and  one  year  in  tlie  district.  The  Governor  must  have 
been  fourteen  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  ten  years  a 
resident  of  the  State. 

Articles  rehitiug  to  revenue,  corporations,  common  hinds, 
and  tlie  public  debt  were  added  to  tliis  Constitution.  A  pre- 
pensed new  Constitution,  prepared  b}'  a  Convention  in  1861,  was 
rejected  by  the  people  in  1862.  Tlie  votes,  for  and  against, 
were  on  party  lines.  One  of  the  features  of  the  separate  votes 
on  the  section  relating  to  the  colored  race  was  the  marked 
hostility  to  their  citizenship  and  presence  in  the  State. 

The  citizens  of  Missouri  petitioned  Congress,  in  1818, 
for  permission  to  form  a  State  Government,  and  a  contest, 
continuing  two  years,  ensued  in  that  body  between  the  free 
and  slave  states,  which  resulted  in  an  agreement  between  the 
two  sections,  in  regard  to  the  formation  of  new  States  with  or 
without  slavery  as  a  legal  domestic  institution,  known  as  the 
"  Missouri  Compromise."  Missouri  was  to  be  admitted  as  a 
slave  state  but  no  other  was  to  be  formed  in  the  "  Louisiana 
Purchase"  north  of  the  line  of  36  degrees  30  minutes,  which 
was,  with  the  exception  of  a  fragment  on  the  southeast,  the 
southern  line  of  the  State.  This  point  settled,  Missouri  was 
authorized  to  form  a  State  Constitution  by  an  Act  of  Congress 
which  became  a  law  March  6, 1820.  A  Convention  formed  the 
Constitution  which  was  approved  by  the  people,  and  accepted 
by  Congress  March  2,  1821,  which  took  effect  August  10, 
following. 

All  free  white  male  citizens  of  the  United  States,  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  who  had  resided  in  the  State  one  year,  and 
in  the  county  or  district  three  months,  were  authorized  to  vote. 
A  Representative  must  be  twenty-four  years  old,  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  two  years  resident  in  the  State,  and  one 
year  in  the  county.  A  Senator  must  be  thirty  years  old,  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  four  years  resident  in  the  State 
and  one  in  the  district.     The  Governor  must  be  thirty-five 


300  Tin;  jiipsissiiti  valley. 

* 

years  of  age,  a  native  citizen  (jf  tlie  United  States,  or  resi- 
dent of  the  Lonisiana  Purchase  at  the  time  of  its  transfer  to 
the  United  States,  and  a  resident  in  the  State  fonr  years. 
The  General  Assembly  met  once  in  two  years,  Representa- 
tives'held  office  two  years,  Senators,  Governor  and  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor for  four  years.  No  acting  clergymen  or  relig- 
ious teacher  could  hold  any  office  except  that  of  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  The  Judges  and  most  of  the  subordinate  officers 
were  appointed,  until  1850,  when  the  elective  principle  was 
generally  introduced ;  the  State  officers  term,  generally,  being 
four  years  and  the  Judfjes  six  years.  Amendments  were  to  be 
proposed  by  two  thirds  of  each  House,  published  in  all  the  news- 
papers one  year  before  the  next  general  election,  and  ratified 
1)V  two  thirds  of  each  House  at  the  next  session  of  the  Leffisla- 
ture.  Amendments  were  ratified  in  1822,  1835,  1849,  1851, 
1853  and  1855,  the  most  important  of  which  introduced  the 
elective  principle  in  filling  all  offices. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Kepublic  of  Texas,  which  had 
revolted  from  Mexico  and  formed  an  independent  govern- 
ment, was  adopted  March  17,  1836,  by  a  Convention  assem- 
bled for  that  purpose.  Hepresentatives  were  elected  annually, 
Senators  and  Governor  foi-  three  years.  Judges  were  appointed 
hy  joint  ballot  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  Slavery  was 
introduced,  and  no  free  person  of  pure  or  mixed  African  blood 
could  reside  in  the  country  without  the  special  authority  of 
(the  Texan)  Congress.  Texas  maintained  its  independence  of 
Mexico  by  force  of  arms,  but  sought  admission  into  the  Amer- 
ican Union.  As  it  involved  the  extension  of  slavery  and  a 
war  with  Mexico  there  was  a  contest  of  some  years'  duration 
over  it  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  One  of  the 
great  political  parties  of  the  country  favored  it.  An  Act  of 
Congress  approved  the  annexation  on  conditions  which  were 
accepted  by  Texas,  and  a  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  approved 
December  29,  1845,  made  it  a  State  in  the  Union. 

A  Texas  Convention  liad  framed  a  State  Constitiiticm  which, 


CONSTITUTIONS    OF    TEXAS    AND    AKKANSAS.  301 

October  13,  1845,  had  been  ratified  by  the  people  and  after- 
ward approved  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Every 
free  male  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  was  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  or  of  Texas  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  resident  one  year  in  the  State,  and  six  months 
in  the  county  or  town,  was  deemed  a  t|iialitied  voter.  All  free 
males  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  had  resided  in  Texas  six 
months  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  were  deemed 
citizens  of  the  State.  A  Representative  must  be  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  Texas  at  the  time  of  its  admission 
into  the  Union,  two  years  resident  in  the  State,  and  one  in  the 
county,  town,  or  city,  and  twenty -one  years  of  age.  They  were 
elected  for  two  years,  and  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature  were 
biennial;  Senators,  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor, 
with  the  same  qualifications  as  to  citizenship,  must  have  re- 
sided three  years  in  the  State  and  must  be  thirty  years  of  age. 
The  Governor's  term  was  two  years,  the  Senator's  four.  The 
Judges  were  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate,  for  six 
years.  The  appointing  principle  obtained  in  filling  most  of  the 
oflSces,  State  and  local.  One  tenth  of  the  revenue  of  the  State 
was  set  apart  for  the  establishment  and  support  of  free  schools. 
This  Constitution  remained  unchanged  until  the  civil  war. 

Early  in  1836  a  Convention,  ordered  elected  by  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature  of  Arkansas,  assembled  to  prepare  a  State 
Constitution.  The  Legislature  held  that  the  right  so  to  organ- 
ize was  conferred  on  them  bj-  the  terms  of  the  treaty  which 
conveyed  the  whole  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  to  the  United 
States,  which  required  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  terri- 
tory should  be  admitted,  "  as  soon  as  possible,"  to  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  citizens  of  the  United  States.  This 
Constitution  was  laid  before  Congress  March  1,  following,  and 
the  State  admitted  June  15,  1836. 

By  this  Constitution  every  free  white  male  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  being  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  resident  six 
months  in  the  State,  was  authorized  to  vote.     The  General 


302  TTIE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Assembly  met  bienniiilly ;  Representatives  must  he  twenty -five 
years  of  age,  and  were  elected  for  two  years  ;  Senators  must 
be  thirty  years  old,  resident  in  the  State  one  year,  and  were 
chosen  for  four  years;  the  Governor  must  be  thirty  years  old, 
liave  resided  ten  years  in  the  State  if  not  a  native  of  the 
United  States,  four  years  if  a  native-born  American.  He 
could  hold  that  office  but  eight  years  out  of  twelve.  There 
being  no  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  President  of  the  Senate 
filled  any  vacancy  that  might  occur  in  the  office.  The  State 
Secretary  was  chosen  by  joint  vote  of  both  Houses  of  the 
Legislature  for  four  years,  the  Treasurer  and  Auditor  for  two 
years.  The  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  must  be  thirty 
years  old  and  were  chosen  by  joint  vote  of  the  Legislature 
for  eight  years  ;  the  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  must  be 
twenty-five  years  old  and  were  appointed  for  four  years. 
Judges  of  the  County  Court  were  appointed  by  the  Justices 
of  the  Peace  of  the  county,  who  were  themselves  elected  by 
the  people,  for  two  years. 

The  Justices  of  the  Peace  formed  the  County  Court.  A 
Constable  was  elected  in  each  township;  a  Sheriff,  Coroner, 
Treasurer  and  Surveyor  were  elected  by  the  voters  of  each 
county.  No  infidel  could  hold  a  civil  office.  The  incorpora- 
tion of  banks  was  authorized,  but  this  was  withdrawn  by  an 
Amendment  ratified  in  1846.  Amendments  to  the  Constitution 
were  made  by  vote  of  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  of  one 
Legislature  and  ratified  by  the  same  vote  of  the  next  General 
Assembly  without  direct  reference  to  the  people. 

A  Constitutional  Convention  framed  a  new  Constitution, 
in  1868,  which  was  ratified  by  the  people.  It  provided  for 
the  election  of  a  Lieutenant-Governor,  introduced  the  elec- 
tive principle  generally,  although  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  and 
Senare  Education  and  finance  received  much  attention,  and 
Amendments,  after  having  passed  two  Legislatures,  were  to  be 
ratified  by  the  people. 


THE    STATE    CONSTITUTION    OF    IOWA.  303 

The  inhabitants  of  Iowa  Territory,  finding  that  it  had 
over  80,000  people,  did  not  wait  for  an  Enabling  Act  of 
Congress,  bnt,  in  1844,  proceeded  to  form  a  Constitution, 
which  they  presented  to  Congress,  for  its  approval,  in  De- 
cember of  that  year.  The  boundaries  made  by  that  Consti- 
tution covered  a  considerable  part  of  what  is  now  Minnesota. 
Congress  passed  a  Bill  for  its  admission,  with  a  large 
reduction  of  boundaries;  but  it  was  not  acoejited  by  the 
people.  August  4,  Congress  passed  an  Enabling  Act,  giv- 
ing the  present  boundary,  a  second  Convention  framed  a  new- 
Constitution  in  conformity  with  it,  which  was  ratified  by  the 
people,  and  an  Act  of  Congress  declared  the  State  a  member 
of  the  Union,  December  8,  1846. 

Every  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  resident  in  the  State  six  months,  and  in  the  county 
twenty  (after  1857,  sixty)  days,  was  an  authorized  voter.  The 
sessions  of  the  General  Assembly  were  made  biennial,  the 
Representatives  elected  every  second  year,  with  one  year's 
residence  in  the  State  and  thirty  days  (after  1857,  sixty)  in 
the  county  or  district,  and  other  qualifications  the  same  as  a 
voter.  Senators  were  elected  for  the  term  of  four  years,  must 
have  the  same  qualifications  of  citizenship  and  residence,  and 
be  twenty-five  years  old.  The  Governor  must  be  thirty  years 
old,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  two  years  a  resident  of  the 
State.     His  term  of  office  was  four  j^ears. 

There  being  no  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Secretary  of  St^te 
was  to  fill  any  vacancy  in  the  office.  The  Judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  were  appointed  by  joint  vote  of  the  two  Houses 
of  the  Legislature,  for  six  years,  the  inferior  Judges  were 
elected  by  the  people,  for  five  years.  The  other  officers  of 
the  State  Government,  and  most  of  the  local  officers,  were 
elected  for  two  years.  An  Article  of  this  Constitution  pro- 
vided that  the  State  debt  should  not  exceed  $100,000  unless 
authorized  by  a  popular  vote,  and  that  only  in  certain  defined 
cafies.     Another  forbade  banking  and  the  issue  of  paper  money. 


304r  THE  Mississii'Pi   vai.i.ky. 

Certain  amendments  were  t'ound  desirable,  which  were  ramed 
by  a  Convention  early  in  1S57,  and  the  new  Constitution  was 
ratified  l)y  the  people  in  the  same  year. 

This  Constitution  authorized  a  State  debt  of  $250,000,  re- 
duced the  term  of  tlie  Governor  to  two  years  and  provided 
for  a  Lieutenant-Governor,  gave  the  election  of  the  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  to  the  people,  and  reduced  the  term  of  the 
district  Judges  to  four  years.  Banking,  under  certain  restric- 
tions, might  be  authorized  by  law.  Various  changes  and  addi- 
tions were  made  in  mostof  the  other  Articles  without  materially 
altering  their  substance,  and  many  careful  provisions  in  regard 
to  education  were  introduced,  among  others  an  elected  Board 
of  Education,  which  was  almost  a  second  organized  legisla- 
ture for  that  interest,  but  might  be  remodeled  or  abolished 
by  the  General  Assembly  after  1S60. 

The  people  of  Michigan  sought  the  permission  of  Congress 
to  form  a  State  Government  in  1832,  believing  they  had  the 
population  required  by  the  Ordinance  of  178".  An  early  mis- 
take as  to  tlie  position  of  the  southern  point  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan with  reference  to  the  mouth  of  the  Miami  River,  at  the 
western  end  of  Lake  Erie,  gave  rise  to  a  conflict  of  boundary 
claims  with  Ohio,  which  prevented  the  passage  of  an  Ena- 
bling Act.  Michigan  waited  until  1835,  when,  finding  by  a 
census  that  they  had  more  than  80,000  inhabitants,  the  Leg- 
islative Council  of  the  Territory  called  a  Convention,  which 
framed  a  Constitution.  It  was  ratified  by  the  people,  a  State 
Government  was  organized,  and  application  made  to  Congress 
for  admission  into  the  Union.  The  boundaries  of  the  pro- 
posed State  included  only  the  lower  peninsula  and  covered 
some  territory  claimed  by  Ohio. 

Congress  passed  a  Bill  admitting  the  State  but  requiring  a 
formal  renunciation  of  the  claim  to  the  contested  territory  by 
a  Convention  to  be  called  for  the  purpose,  and  compensating 
this  loss  by  including  the  upper  peninsula  in  the  boundary  of 
the  State.     The  Convention,  when  called,  rejected  this  condi- 


CONSTITUTIONS    OF    MICHIGAX    AXD    WISCt)XSIX.  305 

tion;  but  a  change  in  popular  views  led  to  the  informal  call- 
ing of  another  Convention,  which  accepted  the  condition,  and, 
as  this  was  evidently  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the  people, 
Congress  passed  an  Act  admitting  Michigan  into  the  Union, 
January  23,  1837.  The  Constitution  of  1835  gave  to  every 
wliite  male  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  six  months  resident 
in  the  State,  a  right  of  voting.  The  sessions  of  the  Legisla- 
ture were  annual.  Representatives  were  elected  for  one  year 
and  Senators  for  two;  their  qualificati(jns  including  only  those 
of  voters  and  of  being  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The  Gov- 
ernor and  Lieutenant-Governor  were  elected  for  two  years, 
must  have  been  five  years  citizens  of  the  LTnited  States,  two 
years  resident  in  the  State.  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
were  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate,  for  seven  years. 
Judges  of  the  County  Court  were  elected  by  the  peo])le  of  the 
county,  for  four  years.  The  Supreme  Court  appointed  its 
Clerks;  County  Clerks  and  Justices  of  the  Peace  were  elected, 
the  former  for  two,  the  latter  for  four  years.  Other  county 
officers  were  elected  for  two  years.  The  Secretary  of  State, 
Auditor-General  and  Attorney-General  were  appointed  by 
the  Governor  and  Senate,  for  two  years;  the  State  Treas- 
urer by  joint  vote  of  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature,  for  two 
years.  Careful  provision  was  made  for  education,  a  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  being  appointed  by  joint  vote 
of  the  Legislature  on  nomination  by  the  Governor,  for  a 
term  of  two  years. 

A  new  Constitution  was  ratified  by  the  people  of  Michigan 
in  1850.  It  made  the  elective  principle  general,  re-organized 
the  Judiciary,  and  added  many  provisions  relating  to  educa- 
tion, finance,  bankina:,  etc. 

Wisconsin,  having  found  by  a  census,  taken  in  ISiB,  that  she 
had  over  155,000  inhabitants,  applied  to  Congress  for  author- 
ity to  form  a  State  government,  which  passed  an  Enabling 
Act  August  6,  1846.  The  Constitution,  framed  by  the  Con- 
vention appointed  for  that  purpose,  was  acceptable  to  Congress 
20 


306  THE    MlSSlSiSIl'l'I    VALLEY. 

but  rejected  by  the  people.  A  census  taken  in  December, 
1847,  gave  over  210,000  inhabitants.  A  new  Constitution 
having  been  ratified  by  the  people,  Wisconsin  was  admitted 
into  the  Union  by  Act  of  Congress,  May  29,  1848.  By  this 
Constitution  all  white  males  twenty-one  years  of  age  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  Indians  not  belonging  to  any  tiibe,  those 
declared  citizens  by  law  of  Congress,  and  foreigners  having 
declared  their  intention  to  become  citizens,  all  resident  one 
year  in  the  State,  were  deemed  qualified  voters.  The  qualifi- 
cations of  Representatives,  Senators,  Governor  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor  were  the  same  as  for  voters.  The  sessions  of  the 
Legislature  were  annual,  the  Representatives  elected  for  one 
year,  the  Senators  for  two  years,  as  also  the  Governor.  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  and  Circuit  Courts  were  elected  for  six  years; 
Probate  Judges  and  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  two  years.  The 
elective  principle  obtained  generally  in  filling  all  subordinate 
offices.  The  state  debt  could  not  exceed  $100,000;  careful 
provision  was  made  for  education,  and  amendments  were  to 
be  approved  by  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to  both 
Houses  of  the  Legislature  at  two  successive  sessions,  after 
which  they  were  to  be  submitted  to  the  people  for  ratification 
or  rejection.  The  question  of  calling  a  Convention  to  revise 
the  Constitution  might  be  submitted  to  the  people  by  the 
Legislature  at  its  discretion. 

Minnesota,  in  the  latter  part  of  1857,  had  about  150,000 
inhabitants,  who,  not  agreeing  on  the  boundaries  to  be  pro- 
posed, did  not  seek  permission  of  Congress  to  form  a  State 
Government.  That  body,  not  waiting  for  the  expressed  desire 
of  the  Territory,  passed  an  Enabling  Act,  February  20,  1857, 
designating  the  boundaries  as  now  existing.  The  Territory 
extended  westward  to  the  Missouri  River,  many — and  among 
them  a  majority  of  the  Territorial  Legislature — desired  to 
divide  the  Territory  by  an  east  and  west  line  rather  than  by 
one  north  and  south,  as  had  been  done  by  Congress.  An  act 
passed   by   the   House   of   Representatives    and   Legislative 


THE    CONSTITUTION    OF    MINNESOTA.  307 

Conncil  of  the  Territory  to  remove  the  capital  from  St.  Paul 
to  St.  Peter,  failed  to  become  a  law;  a  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion was  called  which  separated,  on  party  lines,  into  two 
bodies,  each  of  which  proceeded  to  frame  a  Constitution. 
Before  closing  their  labors,  however,  they  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  conference  which  agreed  on  a  Constitution,  which 
was  signed  in  duplicate  by  each  body — they  remaining  sepa- 
rate to  the  end.  It  was  ratified  almost  unanimously  by  the 
people  and  approved  by  Congress  May  11,  1858. 

By  this  Constitution,  white  males  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
who  had  resided  in  the  United  States  one  year,  in  the  State 
four  months,  and  in  the  election  district  ten  days,  and  who 
were  citizens  of  the  United  States,  foreigners  who  had  declared 
their  intention  to  become  citizens,  and  Indians  and  half 
breeds  who  had  adopted  the  customs  and  habits  of  civilization, 
were  deemed  competent  to  vote.  The  frequency  of  sessions 
of  the  Legislature  was  to  be  ascertained  by  law.  The  qual- 
ifications of  Representatives,  Senators,  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor were  the  same  as  those  of  electors,  or  voters, 
save  that  the  last  two  must  be  twenty -five  years  of  age.  The 
elective  principle  was  made  general  in  filling  offices.  The 
terms  of  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor,  Secretary  of 
State,  Treasurer  and  Attorney  General  were  two  years,  of 
State  Auditor  three  years.  Judges  of  the  Supreme  and 
District  Courts  were  elected  for  seven  years ;  Judges  of  the  Pro- 
bate, or  County,  Court  and  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  two  years. 

The  State  debt  could  not  exceed  $250,000.  A  provision 
allowing  State  Bonds,  to  the  amount  of  $5,000,000,  to  be 
issued  in  aid  of  certain  railways,  was  inserted  by  an  amend- 
ment of  1858,  but  expunged  in  1860.  Amendments  approved 
by  both  Houses  of  any  Legislature  might  be  submitted  to  the 
people.  Being  ratified  by  them,  they  became  integral  parts 
of  the  Constitution.  A  Legislature  might  also  submit  the 
question  of  calling  a  Constitutional  Convention  to  the  people. 
Careful  provision  was  made  for  education. 


308  •rilK    MISSISSII'IM     VAI.l.lOY. 

When  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and  Xebi'.-iska  were  organ- 
ized, in  1854,  the  "  Missouri  Compromise  "  was  repealed  and 
Kansas  became  the  field  on  wliicli  the  contending  parties,  up- 
holdinir  and  resistino:  the  further  extension  of  slavery,  strujj- 
ffled.  From  both  sides  of  "  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line"  zealona 
partisans  liastened  to  this  Territory  to  strive  for  supremacy. 
Great  bitterness  and  consideralde  bloodshed  characterized  this 
contest  for  some  years.  Eftorts  to  frame  a  State  Constitution 
commenced  in  August.  1855,  by  the  Free  State  party,  whose 
Convention  presented  the  "  Topeka  Constitution,"  which  was 
ratified  by  those  who  voted,  the  opposite  party  not  voting. 
The  whole  proceedings  were  without  legal  authority,  and  were 
severely  denounced  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
Territorial  Legislature,  which  was  of  the  opposite  party,  took 
measures  for  framing  another  Constitution,  in  1856,  which 
resulted  in  the  "  Leconipton  Constitution."  Only  certain 
clauses  relating  to  slavery  were  presented  to  the  people  and 
ratified,  the  Free  State  advocates  not  voting.  It  was  produced 
under  legal  forms  and  laid  before  Congress.  Some  of  its  pro- 
visions were  deemed  inadmissible  by  that  body,  which  pre- 
sented other  terms  for  the  decision  of  the  people  of  the 
Territory.  The  parties  opposing  it  rallied  and  defeated  it. 
The  friends  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  had  held  a  pre- 
vious separate  election  and  voted  for  it,  but  the  voting  was 
not  at  a  regular  time,  and  the  voters  did  not  equal  the  number 
of  those  who  had  voted  against  it.  A  new  Convention  was 
called,  a  Constitution  framed  and  submitted  to  the  people, 
who  ratified  it,  in  October,  1859,  but  it  was  not  approved 
by  Congress  until  January  29,  1861,  when  Kansas  became  a 
State  in  the  Uni(m. 

Slavery  was  excluded  from  the  State.  The  sessions  of  the 
Legislature  were  annual,  Represeiitatives  serving  for  one  year. 
Senators,  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  other  State  ofii- 
cers,  for  two  years.  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  elected 
for  six  years.  District  Judges  for  four  years,  Probate,  or  County 


CONSTITUTIONS    OF    KANSAS    AND    NEBRASKA.  309 

Judges,  and  Justices  of  the  Peace,  for  two  years.  White  males 
twentv-one  years  of  age,  resident  si.x  months  in  the  State  and 
thirty  days  in  the  election  district,  who  were  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  foreigners  who  had  declared  their  inten- 
tion to  become  citizens,  were  competent  to  vote.  No  other 
qualifications  were  required  in  members  of  the  Legislature  or 
civil  officers  of  the  State.  The  public  debt  could  not  exceed 
$1,000,000.  Amendments  proposed  by  two  thirds  of  all  the 
members  elected  to  a  Legislature  were  to  be  submitted  to  the 
people  for  ratification  at  the  next  general  election.  The  same 
majority  of  the  Legislature  could  suljmit  to  the  people  the 
question  of  calling  a  Constitutional  Convention,  when  they 
judged  it  necessary.  A  provision  was  introduced  requiring 
the  Legislature  to  pass  laws  to  protect  the  rights  of  married 
women  to  the  possession  of  property  independently  of  the  h\is- 
band,  and  to  equal  rights  in  the  possession  of  their  children. 

The  Territory  of  Nebraska  was  organized  by  the  same  Act 
of  Congress  that  called  Kansas  Territory  into  being.  In  the 
intention  of  the  advocates  of  slavery  extension  Kansas  was  to 
become  a  slave,  and  Nebraska  a  free  State,  thus  preserving 
the  balance  of  free  and  slave  States  in  the  Union.  Its  north- 
ern position  in  the  line  of  greatest  free  State  emigration,  and 
the  comparatively  small  number  of  proslavery  emigrants  also 
pronounced  in  fiivor  of  that  destination  for  Nebraska.  There 
was,  therefore,  no  contest  here,  as  in  Kansas,  over  that  element 
of  dissension  in  the  Union. 

The  question  of  a  State  Government  was  first  presented  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  in  1860,  l)ut  not  approved. 
By  request  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  an  Enabling  Act 
was  passed  by  Congress.  April,  1864,  authorizing  the  people 
of  Nebraska  to  fonn  a  State  Constitution.  The  estimated 
population  was,  at  this  time,  but  30,000.  Many  of  the  inhab- 
itants did  not  favor  immediate  action  and  the  subject  was 
suffered  to  lie  over  until  1866,  when  the  Territorial  Legisla- 
ture framed  a  Constitution  which  was  ratified  by  the  peojile. 


310  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLKY. 

A  bill  for  the  admission  of  Nebraska  as  a  State  into  the 
Union  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress  in  the  same  year,  but 
not  being  signed  by  tlie  President,  failed  to  become  a  law. 
Early  in  the  next  year  a  new  act  of  admission  was  passed  by 
Congress  containing  some  stipulations  not  mentioned  in  the 
Enabling  Act.  It  was  vetoed  by  the  President,  for  that  and 
other  reasons,  but  passed  over  the  veto  by  both  Houses  and 
became  a  law,  February  10,  1867.  The  State  Legislature 
having  accepted  the  terms  of  this  act,  Nebraska  was  pro- 
claimed a  State  in  the  Union,  by  the  President,  March  1, 
following. 

This  Constitution  made  every  male,  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  who  was  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  a  foreigner 
who  had  declared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  who  had  resided  in  the  Stat'e,  county  and  elec- 
tion district  for  the  time  required  by  law,  competent  to  vote. 
The  sessions  of  the  Legislature  were  biennial.  Rejiresenta- 
tives,  Senators,  the  Governor  and  subordinate  State  officers, 
except  the  Auditor,  were  elected  for  two  years,  the  Auditor  for 
four  years;  their  qualifications  were  the  same  as  for  voters. 
There  was  no  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Secretary  of  State 
filling  any  vacancy  in  the  Governor's  office.  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  were  elected  for  six  years,  other  Judges  and 
Justices  of  the  Peace  for  terms  to  be  determined  by  law. 
The  State  debt  could  not  exceed  $50,000.  A  majority  of  any 
Legislatui-e  could  submit  the  question  of  calling  a  Constitu- 
tional Convention  to  the  people. 

The  inhabitants  of  Virginia  west  of  the  mountains  had 
long  been  discontented  with  what  they  considered  the  une- 
qual relations  of  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the  State. 
When  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  in  1861,  joined  the 
Southern  Confederacy  they  remained  loyal  and  took  measures 
to  erect  a  separate  State  Government  by  the  election  of  a 
provisional  convention  which  reorganized  the  State  Govern- 
ment and  called  a  Convention  to  prepare  a  Constitution  which 


THE    STATK    CONSTITFTION    OF    WEST    VIKftlMA.  311 

was  submitted  to,  and  ratified  by,  the  people.  The  consent 
of  the  loyal  Legislature  of  Virginia  and  ctf  Congress  having 
been  given,  the  President  declared  by  proclamation,  April 
20,  1862,  that  West  Virginia  would  become  a  State  in  the 
Union  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  days. 

All  white  male  citizens,  twenty-one  years  of  age,  resident 
one  year  in  the  State,  who  were  not  of  unsound  mind,  or 
guilty  of  treason,  felony,  or  bribery  at  an  election,  were  enti- 
tled to  vote.  No  persons  not  qualified  voters  could  hold  any 
civil  office.  Judges  must  be  thirty-five  years  of  age,  the  Gov- 
ernor thirty.  Senators  and  the  Attorney-General  twenty-five. 
The  terra  of  Senators  was  two  years,  of  Delegates  (members 
of  the  Lower  House)  one  year.  The  Legislature  met  once  a 
year.  The  Governor,  Secretary  of  State,  Treasurer  and  Audi- 
tor were  elected  for  two  years.  There  was  no  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  the  President  of  the  Senate  filling  any  vacancy  in 
the  Governor's  oftice.  Judges  of  the  Supreme  CiMirt  were 
elected  for  twelve  years,  of  the  Circuit  Courts  for  six  years  ; 
inferior  tribunals  were  to  be  organized,  and  the  officers  and 
their  terms  to  be  ascertained,  by  law.  A  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  and  Sheriif,  were  elected  in  each  county  for  four  years; 
a  Recorder,  Prosecuting  Attorney,  Surveyor  of  Lands  and  one 
or  more  Assessors  for  two  years.  Townships  elected  a  Super- 
visor, Clerk  of  the  Township,  Sui-veyor  of  Roads,  and  Over- 
seer of  the  Poor  annually;  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  every  four 
years — or  two,  if  the  white  population  exceeded  1,200 — and  as 
many  Constables  as  Justices,  every  two  years.  Provision  was 
made  for  education,  and  a  General  Superintendent  of  Free 
Schools  for  the  State  might  be  elected  for  two  years,  and  also 
County  Superintendents  of  Schools.  Amendments  might  be 
made  by  a  majority  of  the  members  elected  to  two  successive 
Legislatures  which  were  then  to  be  submitted  to  the  people 
for  ratification;  and  two  thirds  of  the  members  elected  to 
any  Legislature  might  submit  the  question  of  calling  a 
Constitutional  Convention  to   the  people,  the  Amendments 


312  THE    MIBSISSIl'ri    VALLEY. 

adopted  by  the  Convention,  if  called,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
people. 

Colorado  was  organized  as  a  Territory  by  an  Act  of  Con- 
gress of  March  2,  1861.  It  authorized  the  people  to  elect  a 
Legislature — consisting  of  a  Council  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, Treasurer,  Auditor  and  Superintendent  of  Schools. 
All  other  officers,  including  the  Governor  and  the  Judiciary, 
were  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  In 
March,  1864,  an  Enabling  Act  of  Congress  authorized  prep- 
arations for  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union.  A  Consti- 
tution, framed  and  submitted  to  the  people  the  same  year,  was 
rejected.  Another,  submitted  September  5,  1865,  was  ac- 
cepted by  a  small  majority  and  a  Legislature  and  State  officers 
elected  under  it. 

The  Act  of  Congress  admitting  Colorado  was  vetoed  by 
the  President,  May  15,  1866.  A  second  veto,  February  28, 
1867,  again  adjourned  its  admission,  and,  as  the  people  of  the 
Territory  were  not  united  in  desiring  admission,  the  Constitu- 
tion and  State  Government  passed  into  oblivion.  March  3, 
1875,  an  Enabling  Act  of  Congress  was  approved,  which  left 
all  further  action  to  the  people  of  the  Territory  and  to  the 
President.  The  Constitutional  Convention  agreed  upon  a 
Constitution,  March  14,  1876,  which  was  submitted  to  the 
people  and  accepted  by  them  July  1,  and  Colorado  was  pro- 
claiined  a  State  in  the  Union  by  the  President,  August  1, 
following. 

All  males  twenty-one  years  old,  who  were  citizens  of  the 
United  States  or  had  declared  their  intention  to  become  such, 
having  resided  six  months  in  the  State,  and  in  the  county  or 
town  as  determined  by  law,  were  deemed  voters,  unless  con- 
fined for  crime,  which  disability  ceased  when  they  were  legally 
set  at  liberty.  Females  could  vote  and  hold  office  in  school 
district  aifairs;  and  the  Legislature  could  extend  the  general 
right  of  suffras:e  to  women  at  its  discretion. 

The  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor,  State  Superintend- 


THE    STATE    CONSTITCTION    OF    COLORADO.  313 

ent  of  Schools  and  Judges  of  tlie  Supreme  Court,  must  be  at 
least  thirty  years  old;  the  Auditor,  Secretary  of  State,  Treasu- 
rer, Attorney-General  and  members  of  the  Legislature  must 
be  twenty-five  years  of  age.  All  these  except  Senators,  were 
elected  for  two  years — Senators  for  four  years.  The  Governor 
had  all  the  usual  powers  conferred  by  other  States.  The 
Legislature  met  biennially  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  January. 
The  Judicial  department  was  vested  in  Supreme,  District  and 
County  Courts  and  Justices  of  the  Peace.  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  were  elected  for  nine  years.  District  Judges 
for  six  years.  County  Judges  and  District  Attorneys  for  three 
years. 

Elaborate  provision  was  made  for  education  and  benevolent 
institutions,  to  guard  against  State,  county  and  city  debts,  and 
to  prevent  excessive  taxation.  The  jirinciple  of  election  to 
office  was  nearly  universal.  Much  pains  was  taken  to  pre- 
vent abuses  by  corporations,  and  to  protect  mining  and  irri- 
gation. A  proposition  for  a  Convention  to  amend  the  Con- 
stitution could  be  submitted  by  any  Legislature  to  the  peojile, 
or  a  two  thirds  vote  of  all  the  members  could  submit  to  the 
vote  of  the  people  Amendments  to  any  one  Article  of  the 
Constitution.  Several  liberal  modifications  were  introduced 
into  the  usual  Bill  of  l^ights.  No  public  funds  were  permit- 
ted to  be  given  in  aid  of  denominational  schools.  All  eflVjrt 
was  made  to  protect  every  liberty  and  personal  or  public  right. 
Many  States  in  the  Valley  have,  since  1870,  endeavored  to 
introduce  improvements  in  this  direction  into  their  organic 
laws. 

It  will  be  seen  by  a  review  of  this  glance  at  Constitu- 
tional History  that  the  political  i7istitutions  of  the  Valley 
assumed  their  special  fornas  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
East.  The  pi-inciples  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  were  applied 
by  the  United  States  Congress,  whose  members,  for  the  first 
forty  years,  were  mainly  from  the  Atlantic  States;  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  defined  the  general  character  of 


314  THE    MISSISSIl'in    VAl.I.EV. 

the  new  States  and  gave  tliem  equal  rigliti^  witli  the  '•  Old 
Thirteen;"  and  the  mass  of  the  settlers  who  erected  them 
were  originally  residents  and  citizens  east  of  the  nuiuntains. 
The  structures  erected  l)y  tlie  great  and  wise  statesmen  of 
the  Hevolution  were  singularly  well  adapted  to  the  genius  of 
the  people  and  the  wants  of  the  time,  as  also  of  the  future. 
The  work  was  thorough,  the  principles  comprehensive,  and 
the  system  employed  in  their  application  wisely  free  and 
elastic. 

The  sagacity,  moderation  and  love  of  full  and  equal  justice, 
as  well  as  good  order,  displayed  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Repub- 
lic, secured  so  much  respect  and  veneration  for  their  work 
from  the  people  at  large  that,  when  they  crossed  the  moun- 
tains and  became  constitutional  architects  in  their  turn,  they 
carefully  followed  the  models  they  had  known  in  the  East, 
and  especially  the  forms  presented  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  They  were  required  only  to  preserve  "  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government,"  which  gave  them  great  latitude 
in  details,  but  of  which  they  did  not  very  largely  avail  them- 
selves. The  Executive,  Legislative  and  Judicial  branches  of 
all  the  State  Governments  were  substantially  alike.  The  Gen- 
eral Government  was  so  well  balanced  and  proportioned  that 
the  idea  of  e.xperimenting  for  something  better  does  not  seem 
to  have  occurred  to  them.  With  English  good  sense  they  were 
content  to  "  let  well  enough  alone,"  and  though  varying  some 
of  the  details,  according  tocircnmstances,  and  enough  to  show 
that  they  were  not  simply  slavish  and  blind  imitators,  they  yet 
followed  a  common  plan  so  closely  that  one  State  Constitution 
is  a  very  fair  sample  of  all — the  chief  differences  lying  in  the 
wording  and  subdivisions  of  the  instrument. 

This  general  similarity,  where  there  was  s(.)  large  an  oppor- 
tunity for  diversity,  shows  how  much  nnn'e  complete  and  vital 
is  the  unity  produced  by  freedom  than  that  obtained  by  com- 
pulsion. Community  of  ideas,  circulating  without  pressure, 
banishes  antagonisms  much  more  eflfectnally  than  the  stress  of 


Jk 


THE    PKUDENCK    OF    PIONEER    LEGISLzVTOlJS.  315  ■ 

iutliority.  By  the  wise  liberality  of  eastern  statesmen  the  peo- 
ple of  the  West  were  left,  with  the  least  possible  restriction, 
to  found  institutions  according  to  their  own  minds.  It  was 
virgin  ground  and  it  would  not  have  apj^eared  sti'auge  if  theo- 
rizing and  ex])erinient  had  gone  fast  and  far.  They,  on  the 
contrary,  emulated  practical  eastern  wisdom,  studied  the  struc- 
tures already  built,  and  confined  expei'inient  to  very  narrow 
limits.  The  best  models  were  generally  imitated,  with  intel- 
ligence and  judgment,  throughout  the  Valley,  and  a  truly 
national  harmony  and  unity  was  the  residt. 

Thus,  the  Constitutional  History  of  the  Valley  is  the  best 
possible  comment  on.  and  justification  of,  the  broad  states- 
manship and  subtle  prudence  of  the  Legislators  of  the  East 
during  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  They  trusted 
the  people  of  the  territories,  governed  them — and  limited  them 
in  self-government — as  little  as  possible,  and,  in  return, found 
themselves  revered  as  authorities  and  their  best  hopes  and 
plans  realized  with  a  spontaneity  and  completeness  e.xtremely 
honorable  to  both  sections  and  foi'tunate  for  the  destinies  of 
the  country. 

This  respect  for  the  calm  and  deliberate  wisdom  and  patriot- 
ism of  the  early  legislators  of  the  Republic  was  a  great  benefit 
to  the  Valley  whose  earl^'  inhabitants  were  mainly  simple 
backwoods  farmers  or  emigrants  from  the  mass  of  common 
people  in  the  East.  This  class  has  never  before  been  supposed 
equal  to  the  burdens  and  duties  of  a  profound  and  broad  states- 
manship. Here,  however,  they  were  required  to  found  insti- 
tutions, to  decide  on  constitutional  policy,  and  to  lay  the  bases 
of  a  great  national  development.  They  had  the  penetration  to 
discover  who  was  the  wisest  teacher,  and  what  were  the  best 
fonns  and  principles  to  adopt,  and  their  work,  as  a  whole, 
proved  to  be  permanent.  No  really  fundamental  remodeling 
has  since  been  required.  As  the  Constitutions  were  when 
they  first  went  into  operation,  such  they  substantially  remain. 
Most  of  the  States  have  amended  their  Constitutions  more 


31fi  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLP:y. 

tliaii  once — some  of  them  many  times — but  the  general 
features  have  not  been  altered. 

The  changes  have,  almost  uniformly,  been  only  such  as  a 
rapid  growth  required — adaptations  of  minor  details  to  chang- 
ing circumstances.  Tiespect  for  the  popular  will  has  constantly 
increased.  The  framers  of  many  of  the  first  Constitutions 
did  not  see  the  need  of  consulting  the  people  before  setting 
the  machinery  of  government  in  motion.  Such  an  omission 
lias  not  occurred  since  the  early  years  of  thenineteeth  century. 
A  large  part  of  the  Union,  State  and  local  officers  obtained 
their  places  at  first  by  appointment  of  the  Governor,  Legis- 
lature or  other  authority;  but  the  elective  principle  has  stead- 
ily gained  ground  and  few  places  are  now  filled  otherwise  than 
by  election.  Changes  have  uK^re  often  been  made  in  financial 
ami  educational  systems,  in  the  conduct  of  subordinate  local 
affairs,  and  in  principles  of  temporary  policy,  which  have  be- 
longed, some  have  thought,  more  to  the  legislative  than  to  the 
constitutional  field,  in  which,  Legislatures  not  having  produced 
satisfactory  results.  Constitutional  Conventions  have  tried 
their  hand. 

In  many  of  these  cases  the  evil  has  not  seemed  to  be 
within  the  reach  of  Legislatures  or  Constitutions.  Arising 
from  the  new  and  perplexing  complications  of  an  unexampled 
development,  they  could  be  best  remedied  only  by  the  checks 
and  balances  indicated  by  time,  by  the  laws  of  business  and 
society  operating  freely,  and  which  experiments,  legislative  or 
constitutional,  have  often  hindered  more  than  they  have  helped. 
The  jostling  of  interests,  public,  corporate  and  private,  where 
expansion  was  so  rapid,  was  unavoidable,  and  time  only  could 
show  the  right  remedy.  The  resort  to  constitutional  regu- 
lation has  not,  therefore,  always  been  successful  and  then 
required  to  be  undone,  and  experiment  and  change  have  gone 
on  within  certain  limits;  but  success  and  failures  in  one  State 
have  been  so  many  lessons  for  all  the  rest,  and  constitutional 
progress  has  kept  a  generally  even  step  throughout  the  Valley, 


HEALTHY    GKOWTH    CURES    IMPERFECTIONS.  317 

and,  to  a  somewhat  less  extent,  in  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Every  Constitution  contains  provision  for  its  own  amendment, 
wiien  it  is  believed  necessary,  so  that  the  Constitutional  sys- 
tem is  elastic  and  renders  resort  to  revolutionary  measures 
unnecessary  and  extremely  improbable,  especially  after  the 
emphatic  failure  of  the  South  in  the  civil  war.  The  Con- 
stitutional History  of  the  States  of  the  Valley  seems  to 
have  furnished  a  complete  vindication  of  the  wisdom  of 
confiding  government  to  the  masses  of  the  people.  They 
have  been  generally  cautious  and  temperate  and  common 
sense  has  proved  itself  in  general,  in  this  field,  to  be  good 
sense. 

Partial,  or  one-sided  examination,  indeed,  reveals  much  im- 
perfection, and  produces  in  some  minds  doubt  as  to  the  result. 
A  judgment  rendered  from  many  party  and  other  special 
standpoints  i'requently  leads  the  prejudiced  examiner  to  a 
serious  questioning  of  the  real  excellence  and  success  of  our 
institutions.  Their  liberality  often  seems  to  have  degenerated 
into  license,  public  interests  appear  to  be  sacrificed  to  the 
ambition  and  greed  of  individuals,  corporations,  "  rings."  and 
parties,  and  true  patriotism  appears  to  have  vanished.  There 
have  never  been  wanting  many  prophets  of  evil  who  seemed 
to  make  a  strong  case  and  to  prove  that  the  utmost  peril  was 
imminent. 

The  mistake  of  such  views  lies  in  confining  the  observa- 
tion to  one  class  of  facts,  which  seldom  fail  to  be  more  or  less 
exaggerated  by  the  assumptions  that  make  them  cover,  or 
nearly  so,  the  whole  field  of  action.  More  careful  and  impar- 
tial study  invariably  discovers  that  the  real  evil  was,  or  is,  less 
than  represented,  was  but  a  temporary  phase  in  the  general 
current  of  free  movement,  or  was  an  efibrt  by  short-sighted 
and  unworthy  men  to  reach  an  impossible  result.  These  evils, 
when  real,  were  merely  temporary,  and  only  required  to  be 
distinctly  comprehended  by  the  2Jet>ple  at  large  to  be  neutral- 
ized, and,  in  the  course  of  time,  have  disappeared.     So  uni- 


318  THK    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

formly  has  this  been  the  case  in  the  whole  past  history  of  the 
"Republic  as  to  fairly  justify  the  position  that  the  prevailing 
character  of  moral,  political,  and  business  life  is  really  healthy 
and  sound,  that  the  facts  interpreted  to  the  contrary  are  mis- 
conceived or  temporary  only,  and  that  every  evil  existing  at 
a  given  time  will  be  replaced  by  its  opposite  sooner  or  later. 
In  the  cases  wliere  these  evils  are  generally  recognized  and 
continue  to  e.\ist,  the  whole  past  history  of  the  country  and 
of  each  section  of  it  justifies  the  assumption  that  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  thoughtfulness  and  prudence  underlying  our  whole  life 
is  only  waiting  to  discover  the  effectual  remedy,  which  it  can 
not  believe  has  yet  been  found.  No  fault  should  be  found 
with  this  cautious  habit,  for  it  is  the  real  source  of  strength 
and  permanence  in  both  English  and  American  institutions. 
Experience  and  observation  have  more  and  more  convinced 
this  progressive  race  that  radical  reforms,  hastily  undertaken, 
usually  defeat  their  aim  by  introducing  more  evils  than  they 
cure.  The  good  sense  of  the  people,  therefore,  leads  them  to 
wait  till  they  can  see  their  way  clearly. 

Reform  moves  slower  in  Enjjland  than  in  the  United  States 
for  the  above  reason.  There  is  more  to  be  unsettled,  and  more 
disturbance  and  confusion  must  ensue  from  the  greater  num- 
ber of  habits  and  relations  that  has'e  grown  up  with  time. 
The  same  may  be  remarked  of  the  Eastern  States  as  compared 
with  the  Valley.  Re-adjustment  is  easier  and  less  harmful  in 
the  newer  States,  and  important  changes  have  more  generally 
— indeed,  almost  always — commenced  in  the  West,  and,  if  they 
proved  successful  there,  they  were  adopted  later  by  the  East. 
This  has  been  true,  among  other  cases,  of  the  removal  of  the 
restriction  of  suffrage  to  property  owners,  the  extension  of  the 
elective  principle  in  filling  subordinate  offices  generally,  and 
especially  the  State  Judiciary.  Constantly  protested  against 
as  dangerous,  they  have  spread  from  the  Valley  to  the  East 
and  thence  thrust  an  entering  wedge  into  the  institutions  of 
Europe.     The  dangers  prophesied  have  not  been  experienced ; 


THE    rSES    OF    FREEDOM    AND    RESPONSIBILITY.  319 

the  "leveling"  resulting  has  been  "  up  "  instead  of  "  down;" 
and  the  standard  of  official  iitness  and  purity  has  improved 
instead  of  deteriorating;  while  tlie  wider  hekl  of  action  and 
responsibility  assigned  to  the  people  has  made  tliem  more 
thoughtful  and  more  intelligent  in  their  criticism. 

On  the  whole  the  Constitutional  liistory  of  the  Valley  has 
proved,  more  conclusively  than  had  ever  before  been  done, 
that  freedom  and  responsibility  tend  to  raise  the  masses  of  the 
people — even  the  lowest — out  of  tlie  condition  of  a  moh — 
moved  by  blind  impulses  when  it  is  not  ruled  by  as  blind  and 
abject  a  submission  to  authority — towards  manliness  and  true 
statesmanship.  It  is  they  who  have  been  the  real  authors  of 
these  Constitutions  and  of  the  order  and  social  progress  re- 
sulting under  them.  They  have  proved  themselves  true  and 
enlightened  statesmen.  The  moderation,  and  wisdom  of  these 
free  and  comparatively  untutored  backwoodsmen  afibrded  a 
striking  and  significant  lesson  which  was  the  only  justifica- 
tion of  the  experiment  of  enfranchising  four  millions  of  slaves 
at  a  stroke.  That  experiment  might  well  seem  dangerous. 
That  it  has  not  been  ruinous  is  due  to  the  good  sense  of  the 
Southern  whites  and  to  the  elevating  influence  of  manhood 
suflTrage.  The  fortunate  history  of  the  institutions  of  the 
Valley  in  general,  and  of  that  bold  venture  in  particular, 
proves  that  man  is  never  so  dangerous  as  when  deprived  of 
manhood  rights,  and  never  so  worthy  and  useful  as  when  en- 
joying them  in  their  fullest  measure. 


CHAPTEK    XV. 

NATIONALITY     OF      EMIGEANTS     TO      THE     VALLEY     AND     THEIR 
ORIGINAL     CHARACTER. 

The  first  immigration  across  the  mountains  to  the  Valley 
in  Western  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia,  beginning  about 
1750,  was  from  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia — the  earliest 
largely  from  the  latter.  But  the  course  of  the  valleys,  and 
especially  of  the  Shenandoah,  invited  the  restless  in  the  more 
western  settlements  of  eastern  Pennsylvania  to  move  south- 
westward,  and  people  from  that  state  mingled  with  Virginians 
and  North  Carolinians  in  the  first  settlements  of  Tennessee. 
Boone  and  many  uf  his  companions  started  from  North  Car- 
olina to  settle  Kentucky.  Tennessee  was  held  to  be  included 
in  the  original  charter  of  North  Carolina  and  Kentucky  in 
that  of  Virginia,  and,  as  a  more  general  rule,  Tennessee  re- 
ceived settlers  from  North  Carolina,  and  Kentucky  from 
Virginia. 

The  first  settlers  were,  in  considerable  part,  from  the  borders 
or  frontiers  of  the  colonies.  These  backwoodsmen  were  un- 
comfortable in  their  relations  with  the  royal  governments 
which,  after  1760,  replaced  the  charter  and  proprietary  gov- 
ernments, and  which,  in  various  ways,  encroached  on  popular 
rights,  or  resisted  the  demand  of  the  people  for  greater  free- 
dom and  a  larger  share  of  influence  in  public  afiairs.  In 
North  Carolina,  especially,  there  had  been  great  discontent 
for  a  long  period.  Many  resolute  and  ambitious  men,  whose 
ideas  of  their  rights  and  determination  to  maintain  them, 
together  with  their  eagerness  to  secure  better  locations  than 
the  Atlantic  coast  otfered  for  private  gain,  studied  the  remote 
parts  of  the  country  and  found  their  ideal  met  west  of  the 
mountains.     For  the   most  part  they   had  little  property  in 

320 


EMIGRATION    FROM    THK    EAST.  3l!1 

the  East,  but  their  hardy  enterprise  was  to  secure  it  for  them 
in  the  West.  Although  there  were  many  of  all  classes,  and 
from  Various  colonies,  who  helped  to  settle  the  regions  south 
-of  the  Ohio,  the  origin  of  most  was  to  be  traced  to  the  labor- 
ing population  of  the  "  Old  Dominion,"  and  the  "  Old  Xorth 
State.''  Many  of  the  representatives  of  the  best  classes  of 
English  society  were  to  be  found  in  the  middle  colonies,  and 
while  multitudes  from  the  lower  classes  of  Europe  had  filled 
up  all  the  colonies,  they  had  opportunities  for  "  grading  up" 
in  the  New  AVorld  that  did  not  exist  for  them  in  the  Old. 
The  "gentlemen"  were  far  from  being  a  useless  class  among 
the  early  colonists.  In  large  part,  they  furnished  a  standard 
of  good  sense,  propriety  and  dignity  that  made  a  great  im- 
pression on  the  forming  character  of  the  general  community 
around  them. 

Washington,  and  a  multitude  like  him,  moulded  thefound- 
-ers  of  the  new  nation,  in  the  Southern  colonies,  by  present- 
ing an  almost  ideal  type  of  republican  simplicity  and  nobility. 
This  standard  of  manhood  was  borne  across  the  mountains  in 
the  minds  of  the  settlers,  and  the  men  who  approached  it 
most  nearly  rose  to  influence  and  guided  social  and  political 
development  in  the  Valley.  A  steady  stream  of  settlers 
flowed  into  the  southwest  territory  far  into  the  present 
century. 

After  the  close  of  the  Creek  war  the  Southwest  received  a 
large  part  of  this  stream  of  emigration  from  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  It  had  already  begun,  in  the  last  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  to  join  that  from  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  which  crowded  on  the  Creeks,  or  passed  around 
them  to  the  east  and  west  banks  of  the  Lower  Mississippi 
Eiver.  ' 

The  Northern  States  began  to  furnish  large  numbers  of 
•emigrants  to  the  West  after  the  war  of  independence,  Init  the 
stream  did  not  become  very  noticeable  until  Ohio  was  thrown 
■open,  in   1788.     New  England,  New  York  and  New  Jersey 


322  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

wit.li  Pennsylvania  furnished  most  of  the  early  and  later  set- 
tlers to  the  Northwest  territory.  Southern  Indiana  and 
nearly  half  of  Illinois  were  occupied,  in  large  part,  by  emi- 
grants from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  In  later  times  the 
bulk  of  emigration  to  slave  States,  or  Territories  expected  to 
become  such,  was  from  regions  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line;  while  the  free  States  and  Territories  of  the  Valley  were 
chiefly  filled  up  from  free  States  further  east.  Thus  there  was 
really  threatened  a  i-adical  dift'erence  of  civilization  in  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  it  has  often  been  maintained  that  it 
already  existed.  Economic  and  social  aflairs  in  the  two  sections 
certainly  sought  similar  ends  by  widely  difl:erent  means,  but 
the  qualities  of  race  were  the  same  in  each.  In  both,  hardy 
enterprise  was  guided  by  intelligence,  and  the  special  advan- 
tages of  the  northern  and  southern  basin  were  developed  with 
great  zeal  and  eflect.  The  Revolutionary  War  demonstrated 
that  a  new  race — the  Anglo-American — had  come  into  exist- 
ence, and  that  the  people  of  all  the  thirteen  colonies  Ijelonged 
to  it. 

But  multitudes  not  of  American  birth  became  immigrants 
to  the  Valley.  The  largest  and  most  notable  part  of  these 
were  from  the  British  Isles.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
present  century  the  larger  number  of  those  who  located  in  the 
West  were  from  England  and  Scotland,  Ireland  furnishing 
a  large  emigration  later.  These  last  became  laborers  in  the 
towns  and  on  the  public  works,  or  located  in  newer  States  and 
Territories.  Scattering  widely,  they  were  usually  surrounded 
by  Americans. 

The  emigrants  from  Great  Britain,  speaking  one  lan- 
guage, raised  under  the  general  influence  of  common 
ideas  and  similar  institutions,  with  the  same  fundamental 
tendencies  of  character  and  aspiration,  very  soon  received 
whatever  was  peculiar  to  the  land  of  their  adoption.  British 
thought  and  British  principles  were  imported  by  the  first 
Atlantic  colonies  and  became   the  foundation  of  American. 


CHARACTER   OF    EUKOl'EAN    IMMIGKANTS.  323 

institutions.  It  was  comparatively  easy  for  the  later  arrivals 
to  grasp  the  meaning  of  the  transformations  through  which 
tliese  thoughts  and  principles  had  passed  and  they  readily 
became  thorougli  Americans.  If  this  were  the  case  only  with 
the  more  thoughtful  of  the  first  generation,  in  matters  of 
custom  and  sympathy,  it  was  sure  to  be  true  of  all  the 
descendants. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  by  history,  that  races  radically 
different  mingle  completely  with  difficulty.  The  laws  of 
heredity  operate  against  intimate  sympathy  and  harmony  ; 
common  ideas  and  aims,  common  interests  and  action,  need 
to  operate,  often  through  many  generations,  before  strong 
peculiarities  and  antagonisms  can  be  overcome.  This  was  a 
comparatively  slight  difficulty  with  the  English  and  Scotch, 
and  even  the  Celtic  inhabitants  of  Ireland  and  Wales,  for 
Anglo-Saxon  blood  had  circulated  among  them,  and  English 
rule,  for  many  hundred  years,  had  been  at  work  assimilating 
them  t(j  English  thought  and  custom  and  multiplying  inti- 
mate relationships.  Neither  was  it  very  difficult  to  bring 
other  nationalities  of  Northern  and  Central  Europe  to  a  sim- 
ilar comprehension  and  sympathy.  Modern  Europe  has 
borne  the  character  of  one  great  commonwealtii  in  many 
ways,  for  at  least  twelve  hundred  years.  The  common  re- 
ligious bond,  common  learned  languages,  alternate  conquests, 
diplomatic,  business  and  social  relations,  have  tended  more 
and  more  strongly  to  familiarize  them  with  each  other,  and 
especially  in  the  last  five  hundred  years. 

But  behind  this  intercourse  lies  the  important  fact  that  the 
nations  inclined  to  emigrate  to  America  were  mostly,  from  a 
thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  years  ago,  of  one  race — the  Teu- 
tonic— from  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  (and  later  the  Norman) 
conquerors  of  England  sprung.  A  broad  and  important  base 
of  common  character,  and  many  features  of  common  develop- 
ment, made  it  easy  to  harmonize  them,  after  a  little  time,  with 
Anglo-American  ideas  and  ways.      Many  Germans,  Swedes 


324  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  French  Huguenots — who  were,  in  considerable  part,  of 
Norman  blood,  and  inclined  by  powerful  religious  sympathies 
toward  protestant  America — were  among  the  earlier  settlers 
who  took  an  earnest  part  in  establishing  the  Republic.  There 
was  a  considerable  stream  flowing  to  the  colonies  from  north- 
ern and  central  Europe  from  the  tirst,  and  it  grew  constantly 
larger  as  the  States  consolidated  into  a  strong  and  free  Federal 
Union,  which  furnished  the  world  with  a  new  and  higher  idea 
of  political  liberty.  Many  came  for  political  reasons,  full  of 
eager  sympathy  for  free  institutions,  and  many  to  improve  the 
opportunity  to  raise  themselves  and  their  families  to  the  com- 
fort or  opulence  which  the  rich  and  cheap  lands  of  America 
promised  to  all  industrious  settlers.  All  readily  fell  into  line 
with  native  Americans,  and  fully  appreciated  the  larger 
political  and  industrial  opportunities  here  freely  offered  them. 
Thus,  no  important  element  of  discoi'd  was  introduced  by  the 
large  streams  of  immigration  from  Europe  directly  to  the 
Valley. 

The  French  of  the  southwest  were  considerable  in  numbers 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century — from  30,000  to  40,000 — but 
the  Franks,  who  conquered  Roman  Gaul  (the  present  France) 
and  gave  it  their  name,  were  a  German  tribe  and  they  had  a 
later  infusion  of  Teutonic  blood  through  the  Normans.  They 
were  flexible  and  intelligent  by  race,  and  soon  heartily  sym- 
pathized with  the  somewhat  radical  and  pronounced  theories 
on  which  the  Revolutionary  leaders  had  rested  the  structure 
of  the  Union.  They  were  very  soon,  when  once  incorporated 
in  the  Republic,  most  hearty  and  useful  citizens.  They  had 
long  been  in  the  Valley,  and  in  business  relations  with  Anglo- 
Americans  for  thirty  years.  They  became  a  valuable  element 
in  building  up  the  southwest.  Comparatively  few  of  the 
French  came  directly  from  Europe  with  the  later  stream  of 
immigration.  In  the  upper  Valley  they  were  enterprising 
fur  dealers  or  lived  a  quiet,  careless,  joyful  life  as  small  farm- 
ers, hunters  and  "  voyageurs  "  or  forest  guides. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE    PIONEERS    OF    KENTUCKY    AND    TENNESSEE. 

Kentucky,  much  of  Tennessee,  and  the  territory  lying  im- 
mediately north  of  the  Ohio  River,  had  long  ceased  to  be,  if 
they  had  ever  really  been,  the  immediate  and  permanent  abode 
of  the  Red  Men.  It  was  the  debatable  land,  the  hunting 
and  battle  ground  equally  of  the  northern  and  southern  tribes. 
On  the  hills  and  along  the  streams  of  this  delightful  forest 
they  were  sure  to  meet  with  abundance  of  game,  animal  or 
human.  In  settling  here,  the  white  man  was  certain  to  be 
assailed  as  an  intruding  enemy  by  all  the  tribes.  From  the 
south,  and  north,  and  west,  they  would  suddenly  skulk  upon 
him,  strike  a  quick,  fierce  blow  and  hastily  retire.  Judging 
him  again  oif  his  guard,  they  were  ready  for  a  fresh 
attack. 

_  But  danger  had  no  terrors  for  the  backwoodsmen  who  first 
crossed  tjie  eastern  watershed  of  the  Valle}'.  They  rather 
courted  it  and  gloried  in  it.  It  furnished  an  agreeable  excite- 
raent  and  stimulus  to  daily  life,  otherwise  somewhat  monoto- 
nous. Although  too  civilized  and  careful  of  their  wives  and 
children,  too  eager  to  gather  around  them  the  comforts  of 
eastern  communities,  to  seek  it  as  the  business  of  life,  tliey 
had  not  lived  in  and  roved  through  the  wilderness  from  boy- 
hood without  catching  more  or  less  of  the  features  of  the  wild 
man's  character.  This  was  often  a  mischievous  spark  to  the 
tinder  of  the  Indian's  nature,  who  enjoyed  the  contest  with  a 
worthy  antagonist,  whose  bravery  and  skill  he  admired,  some 
of  whose  conveniences  he  coveted,  and  whose  permanent 
presence  and  scornful  rule  were  bitterness  and  gall  to  him. 
Thus  he  alternately  made  peace  and  war,  in  utter  defiance  of 
consistency,  until  his  spirit  was  broken  by  the  fall  of  Tecumseh, 

325 


326  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  tlie  destruction  of  the  hostile  Creoles  during  the  war 
closing  in  1815. 

Though  it  was  a  single  phase  of  experience  among  the  pion- 
eers, lasting  scarcely  more  than  twenty  years  in  any  single 
region,  it  produced  a  deep  and  permanent  impression  on  the 
character  of  the  whole  Valley.  Cut  off  from  the  hoyje  of  aid 
in  an  emergency  by  the  hundreds  of  miles  of  forest  and  moun- 
tain that  lay  between  them  and  eastern  population,  they  stood 
firm,  trusting  only  in  themselves  for  help.  This  self-reliance, 
constantly  exercised  through  the  whole  of  a  vigorous  manhood, 
and  wrought  into  the  character  and  habits  of  the  young,  devel- 
oped a  singular  mental  robustness  and  confidence.  Success 
could  not  have  failed  them  had  the  difficulties  been  ten  times 
as  great;  but  the  dangers  were  great  and  constant  enough  to 
call  forth  their  best  energies,  and  the  success  sufficiently  diffi- 
cult of  attainment  to  give  it  the  highest  value  in  their  eyes 
and  afford  great  self-satisfaction. 

The  fame  of  the  "  Long  Knives  " — so  the  settlers  below  the 
Ohio  were  called  by  the  tribes — among  the  Indians  was  great. 
A  stirring  life  in  a  fine  climate,  and  comparatively  few  of  the 
vices  of  savage  or  civilized  life  to  diminish  ph^'sical  vigor,  pro- 
duced a  tall,  large  framed  and  muscular  race.  The  body  and 
the  mind  were  faii-ly  matched.  The  red  man  could  admire 
strength,  subtlety  and  courage  as  well  as  the  civilized  white. 
They  sometimes  tried  to  adopt  the  white  "  braves  "  into  their 
tribes.  Daniel  Boone  was  a  fine  specimen  of  all  the  pioneer 
virtues,  and  though  his  rifle  was  very  fatal  among  their  war 
parties  they  were  very  anxious  to  capture  and  "tame"  so  dis- 
tinguished a  white  warrior.  Calm,  cool  and  extremely  skillful 
as  a  hunter  and  fighter,  he  was  free  from  the  darker  passions 
of  malice  and  hati'ed.  Caught  for  once,  with  twenty-seven 
companions,  at  his  dinner,  by  a  large  party  of  Indians,  resist- 
ance was  useless.  The  Indians  spared  all  the  party  for  his 
sake,  hoping  he  would  consent  to  adoption  into  their  tribe. 
He  was  treated  with  great  courtesy  antl  remained  with  them 


THE    MENTAL    AND    PHYSICAL   STAMINA    OF    PIONEERS.       327 

■quietly,  to  insure  the  safety  of  his  friends,  until  he  learned 
that  his  own  fort  was  soon  to  be  assailed  by  an  Indian  expe- 
■dition,  when  he  stole  away  alone,  put  Boonesborough  in  order 
for  resistance,  and  successfully  defended  it.  Though  promi- 
nent for  bold  and  daring  deeds  he  was  only  one  among  mul- 
titudes. 

This  undaunted  courage  and  confidence,  which  no  danger 
could  subdue,  which  found  an  attraction  and  romance  in  appal- 
ling adventures,  has  often  been  displayed  by  communities  who 
made  war  a  business,  but  probably  was  never  before  joined  so 
completely  to  the  habits  and  virtues  of  civilization.  Their 
chief  interest  was  still  not  war  and  adventure,  but  settlement 
and  cultivation.  They  were  simple  farmers,  endowed  with 
warlike  virtues.  The  warrior  and  the  adventurer  in  them  did 
not  expel  the  quiet  plodding  virtues  of  civilized  life.  Those 
simply  came  forward,  at  need,  to  protect  and  cherish  these. 
It  was  an  admirable  basis  of  character  and  habit  on  which 
to  build  free  institutions. 

Ail  Indian  claims — supposed  to  be  real  or  just — to  Kentucky 
and  much  of  Tennessee,  had  been  purchased  from  the  various 
claimants,  but  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks  were  annoyed  hy  the 
growing  strength  of  the  settlements  on  their  borders,  and  indi- 
vidual white  aggression  or  violence  often  gave  them  the  pre- 
text for  war  they  wanted,  while  all  the  tribes  north  of  the  Ohio 
considered  Kentucky  as  their  hunting  gi'ound,  and  could  not 
resist  the  passion  for  keeping  up  their  immemorial  custom  of 
roaming  and  fighting  there;  and  until  the  two  became  States, 
•with  a  large  population,  whom  it  was  ruin  for  the  Indians  to 
attack,  the  settlers  were  required  to  defend  themselves.  The 
backwoodsmen  of  the  Eastern  States  continued  to  wander 
along  the  bridle  paths  that  crossed  the  mountains,  unawed  by 
the  almost  incessant  Indian  war  with  all  its  butcherinffs  and 
destruction.  The  valleys  of  Eastern  and  Middle  Tennessee, 
the  slopes  and  bottoms  of  delightful  Kentucky — which  rested 
its  head  on  the  mountains,  bathed  its  limbs  in  the  Ohio,  and 


328  THE  Mississii'Pi  valley. 

its  feet  in  the  Mississippi— were  irresistibly  attractive  to  them 
when  compared  with  the  harsh  and  sterile  regions  on  the  east- 
ern slope  of  the  mountains;  for  even  the  mountainous  parts 
of  the  Valley  have  a  softer,  more  fertile  and  inviting  aspect! 
than  elsewhere. 

They  came,  therefore,  not  to  fight  but  to  lind  farms — for 
which  they  were  not  at  all  unwilling  to  tight  if  that  was  the 
price  of  them.  Thus,  while  the  inhabitants  on  the  Atlantic 
were  maintaining  against  England  the  native  "  Rights  of 
Englishmen,"  and,  having  secured  them  by  inde])endence, 
were  organizing  institutions  to  render  their  possession  of  them 
complete  and  permanent,  the  often  rude  and  rough  but  noble 
and  true-hearted  pioneers  of  the  backwoods  were  extending 
the  field  of  liberty  and  settling  the  foundations  of  the  repub- 
lic in  the  Valley.  So  far  as  they  could,  the  English  and  the 
Spaniards  confronted  them  and  chiefly  through  the   Indians. 

But  liberty  and  the  welfare  of  the  future  were  safe  in  their 
hands.  Their  ambition  could  not  be  persuaded  to  seek  for 
anything  but  the  fariaers'  modest  competence  and  for  a  free  and. 
well  ordered  government  of  their  own.  These  untaught  men 
of  the  woods  were  as  sound  at  heart  and  in  judgment,  and  as 
moderate  and  wise  in  general  conduct,  as  Washington  and  his 
fellow  patriots  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  They  were 
not,  indeed,  all  from  the  frontiers  of  the  Atlantic  States,  and 
most  of  them  had  the  rudiments  of  learning.  They  would 
have  been  respectable  and  prominent  in  any  community  where 
good  sense  and  weight  of  character  had  influence  ;  but  as  a 
whole  they  were  unpolished  and  very  moderately  educated  in 
books  and  the  refinements  of  life.  They  were,  still,  the  solid 
material  out  of  which  the  durable  structure  of  the  American 
Union  was  built.  They  had  the  capacities  of  statesmen  and 
all  the  best  instincts  of  civilization.  Culture  and  polish 
would  come  with  opportunity  and  prosperity;  but  none  of 
the  demands  of  the  time 'tailed  to  be  fairly  met. 

During  this   period  of  fighting,  domestic  and  social  life 


THE    MODEST    AMBITION    OF    EARLY    PIONEERS.  32&- 

assumed  the  simplest  forms  well  conceivable  in  a  civilized 
community.  Luxuries  and  elegancies  of  furniture  or  dress 
and  conveniences  for  labor  did  not  abound,  even  at  the  East, 
in  those  times.  Only  the  wealthy  could  procure  them  from 
Europe.  Great  simplicity  prevailed  on  the  borders  of  the 
eastern  settlements;  nothing  but  the  absolutely  indispensable 
could  be  carried  over  the  mountains.  A  gun,  an  axe,  an 
augur,  an  iron  or  earthen  vessel  or  two  for  the  purposes  of 
cooking,  with  a  very  limited  quantity  of  home-made  clothing, 
formed  the  outfit  of  the  emigrant,  with  an  occasional  drawing 
knife  and  other  instrument  or  two  for  coopering.  With  these 
the  house  and  its  furniture  were  constructed,  the  forests  cut 
down,  game  was  procured,  and  the  Indians  conquered.  Suitable 
garments  were  made  of  the  dressed  skins  of  animals,  of  flax, 
and,  after  a  time,  of  wool  and  cotton.  Great  industry  and 
ingenuity  surrounded  them,  very  soon,  with  rude,  but  sub- 
stantial, comfort. 

The  virgin  soil  furnished  them  grain  and  vegetables  in 
plenty;  the  woods  and  streams  supplied  them  with  the  ten- 
derest,  most  nourishing  meats;  and  as  the  herds  multiplied 
the  finest  products  of  the  dairy  abounded.  Their  tables  were 
supplied  with  the  rarest  steaks,  the  most  delicate  fish,  the  most 
nourishing  bread,  the  best  butter,  with  honey,  maple  sugar  and 
wild  fruit.  They  had  almost  no  market  for  their  surplus,  and 
hospitality  was  scarcely  a  virtue,  it  was  attended  with  so  little 
cost.  Social  qualities  naturally  flourished  in  this  abundance, 
isolation,  and  community  of  danger.  Similar  conditions,  con- 
tinuing far  into  our  century,  made  this  a  marked  feature  of 
western,  and  especially  southern,  life. 

To  all  this  bodily  comfort  add  comparative  freedom  from 
the  ambitions  and  small  cares  and  anxieties  of  an  artificial 
society,  and  the  high  spirit  produced  by  danger  and  difiiculty 
successfully  overcome^a  confident  trust  in  their  ability  to 
meet  every  emergency  and  master  every  situation — and  we 
have  before  us  one  of  the  prominent  features  of  early  life  in 


330  THE  MISSISSIPPI  valley. 

the  Valley,  which  gave  it  a  manly  and  generous  tone  for  all 
time  to  come.  When  this  simple  and  genial  freedom  gave 
place,  under  rapidly  increasing  wealth  and  immigration,  to  the 
social  forms  and  culture  of  the  East,  the  mental  tone  and  bent 
had  been  given  and  tlie  force  and  vigor  of  character  which  lay 
behind  them  enabled  the  Valley  to  dominate  all  the  opposite 
mental  elements  and  social  habitudes  with  which  it  came  in 
contact.  Not  that  it  excluded  them,  but  modified  them  by  its 
persistence  and  superior  vigor.  It  reqiiired  the  eastern  citi- 
zen to  become  acclimated  in  thought  and  manner.  A  life  so 
simple  and  natural  rendered  the  artifices  and  shows  of  an  old 
society  odious  to  it.  The  self-confident,  frank,  and  open  temper 
which  had  grown  so  strong  scorned  and  ridiculed  the  shallow 
pretence  and  artificial  gloss  that  endeavored  to  impose  on  its 
presumed  simplicity  and  ignorance.  What  was  really  sound 
■and  true  it  recognized  and  honored,  and  proved  itself,  in  the 
end,  capable  of  a  high  culture  and  a  bright  polish. 

This  energetic  element  had  grown  up,  concentrated  and 
strong,  to  large  proportions  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
before  the  prairie  regions  were  open  to  settlement,  and  when 
that  time  arrived  those  two  States  sent  out  multitudes  to  the 
newer  regions  and  occupied  so  nnich  of  the  Valley  as  to 
impress  their  peculiarities  on  its  whole  future.  These  pecu- 
liarities were  also  strengthened  by  the  general  difficulties  of 
a  settlement  of  the  interior  which  had  no  adequate  market 
for  nearly  a  genei'atiou  after  1815. 

The  force  of  this  peculiar  development,  which  was  raised  to 
eminence  by  the  great  difficulties  overcome  so  completely, 
naturally  tended  to  exaggeration,  and  this  was  increased  by 
the  growth  of  the  slaveholding  system.  With  prosperity  came 
wealth,  and  the  whites  became  gentlemen  of  leisure  as  the 
close  of  the  pioneer  period  of  hardship  and  difficulty  devolved 
most  of  the  manual  labor  on  the  colored  servants.  The  young 
men  were  nut  so  well  prepared  to  make  the  best  use  of  leisure 
.and,  in  many  cases,  the  self-confident  assurance  of  the  fathers 


m 


A    I.EADINCi    TYI'l.;    (IF    W  i;sTi;i;X    CIIAKACTKR.  331 

became  vices  more  or  less  offensive  in  the  sons.  This,  how- 
ever was  a  temporary  phase  which  good  sense  and  education 
gradually  restrained.  The  poorer  and  less  fortunate  in 
mental  balance  became,  often,  the  noisy  and  fearless  blackleg 
and  gambler  of  the  river  town  and  the  frontier,  and  gave  an 
air  of  rudeness  and  violence  to  far-western  life  and  an  unde- 
served ill-fame,  to  a  certain  extent,  and  among  superficial 
observers,  to  a  noble  race.  Exaggerated  virtues  become  vices 
everywhere  and  "  tares  "  grow  among  the  "  wheat  "  in  every 
society.  The  openness  and  freedom  of  the  Valley  gave  this 
class  special  prominence  for  a  time,  but  the  evil  was  corrected 
with  the  course  of  years,  and  the  sooner  that  the  virtues  from 
which  it  was  a  temporary  aberration,  were  full  of  soundness 
and  vigor,  and,  exerting  a  free  and  quiet  influence,  at  length 
balanced  and  regulated  society  by  their  weight. 

Kentuckians  and  Tennesseeans  scattered  through  all  the 
new  States  and  Territories.  They  were  even  more  "  irrepres- 
silile''  than  the  ideal  Yankee,  for  their  buoyant  assurance 
carried  them,  everywhere,  to  the  surface.  They  furnished  to 
the  country  its  typical  orator  in  Henry  Clay,  many  of  its 
weighty  statesmen,  of  its  great  generals,  and  its  president 
most  beloved  and  revered  after  Washington.  These  oldest 
Valley  States  furnished  many  of  its  leading  forces  to  the 
country  and  impressed  their  character  ineffaceably  on  its 
whole  history. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


NEW   ENGLAND    IN    THE    WEST. 


The  settlers  of  Ohio  during  the  eai-ly  period  were  chiefly 
from  New  England.  Commencing  later  and  witli  previous 
careful  organization,  which  was  immediately  ])laced  under  the 
protection  of  a  Territorial  Government  supported  by  United 
States  troops,  traveling  over  a  route  that  had  long  formed  a 
military  road,  and  confining  themselves,  at  first,  to  compact 
settlements  near  the  Ohio,  they  were  able  to  surround  tliem- 
selves  with  many  of  their  accustomed  comforts  and  conveni- 
ences, and  to  continue,  in  the  depths  of  the  continent,  very 
much  the  same  manner  ux  life  they  had  led  in  New  England. 
A  fort,  comfortable  cottages,  accommodations  for  schools  and 
religious  services,  were  already  prepared  when  the  first  fami- 
lies arrived.  Twelve  years  had  passed  since  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  had  been  issued,  and  republican  ideas  had 
taken  definite  form,  in  the  previous  year,  in  the  "  Ordinance  " 
and  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  A  large  popu- 
lation had  already  firmly  established  civilization  south  of  the 
Ohio,  the  Indians  were,  in  a  few  years,  to  be  pushed  out  of 
their  immediate  neighborhood  and  awed  into  tolerable  quiet 
by  a  final  defeat. 

The  conditions,  therefore,  for  the  Ohio  settlements,  were 
very  different  from  those  that  attended  the  early  growth  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  While  the  discipline  of  these  ear- 
liest pioneers  had  tended  to  the  development  of  a  courageous 
temper — a  bold,  confident  and  oittspoken  independence  of 
feeling — the  later  New  England  settlers  were  able  to  devote 
themselves,  in  comparative  security  and  comfort,  to  the  work- 
ing out  of  the  new  ideas  of  the  time.  It  was  a  different  stock 
and  had  here  a  diflerent  discipline.     At  first  it  was  New  Eng- 

332 


CHAEACTER    OF    PIONEERS    FROM    NEW    ENGLAND.  333 

land  transferred,  with  all  its  habits  and  peculiar  institutions, 
to  the  woods,  carefully  upheld  and  nourished  by  previous  or- 
ganization and  constant  military  protection;  but  the  boundless 
space  about  it,  the  freedom  of  the  woods,  and  the  rudeness  of 
frontier  life,  dissipated  much  of  the  strength  and  controlling 
force  of  organization,  thi*ew  the  individual  upon  himself,  and 
left  the  fundamental  quality  of  the  New  England  mind  to  a 
free  development.  The  German  and  Quaker  elements  of  Penn- 
sylvania mingled  with  it  somewhat  and  enlarged  its  mental 
horizon  by  intimate  contact  with  new  ideas  and  habits.  What- 
ever, therefore,  of  strictness  and  narrowness  might  attach  to 
the  descendant  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  in  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  was  modified  and  partially  removed  here  by  new 
suggestions  and  both  mental  and  social  freedom  from  restraint, 
even  of  public  opinion. 

After  the  first  six  or  seven  years  of  danger  from  Indian 
attack,  during  which  military  organization  was  kept  up,  and 
adventurous  scouts  and  sentinels  became  skillful  in  the  wild 
warfare  of  the  woods,  and  communicated  to  the  new  settlers 
in  general  a  little  of  the  boldness  and  confidence  of  Kentuck- 
ians,  they  settled  down  to  the  individual  toil  and  struggle 
unavoidable  in  laying  the  first  foundations  of  a  great  com- 
monwealth in  a  vast  region  wholly  new.  During  this  period 
the  real  fundamental  character  of  these  people  developed 
freely.  The  New  Englander  adapted  himself  to  the  changed 
conditions  and  was  better  prepared  to  organize  a  new  State 
than  if  wholly  fresh  from  an  eastern  comnaunity.  In 
twelve  years  from  the  day  the  first  house  was  built  in 
Marietta,  the  Northwest  Territory  had  forty-five  thousand 
inhabitants  ;  and  when  the  war  of  1812  broke  out  there 
were  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls  breathing  the 
free  healthy  air  of  the  woods  of  Ohio.  All  these  soon 
caught  the  spirit  and  tendency  of  the  first  settlers,  were  sub- 
jected to  the  rough  discipline  of  pioneer  life,  and  built  up  a 
newer,  fresher  and  more  natural  New  England  in  the  West. 


334  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

New  England  society  and  institutions  had  been  formed  on 
English  models  before  the  liberal  and  expansive  ideas  of  a 
later  time  had  taken  form.  Their  reconstruction  here,  com- 
pleted their  return  to  nature.  The  Revolutionary  era  had 
passed  and  a  new  departure  had  been  taken.  Laborious  and 
simple  habits  and  warm  sympathy  between  all  classes,  begotten 
by  the  community  of  poverty  and  struggle  of  pioneer  life, 
freed  them  from  prejudice.  Consequently  the  First  Principles 
of  political  and  social  science,  enunciated  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  were  more  fully  incorporated  into  the 
thought,  habits  and  institutions  of  the  Northwest  Territory, 
and  grew  with  lusty  vigor  in  the  healthy  industry'  and  quiet 
of  the  woods  and  prairies.  Thorough  republican  principles 
had  a  certain  degree  of  resistance  to  meet  and  overcome  in 
the  East  from  other  forms  of  thought,  and  habits  inherited 
fi-om  England,  before  they  could  be  perfectly  embodied.  In 
the  West  the  people  were,  at  first,  widely  scattered  and  society 
was  very  much  broken  up  by  the  extensive  spread  of  pioneer 
settlement.  Mind  and  habit  were  left  free,  for  a  time,  to  ex- 
pand under  the  influence  of  the  new  ideas,  and  the  people  were 
then  reassembled  to  form  a  new  body  politic,  and  remodel 
institutions  under  the  freest  and  most  natural  forms. 

Of  all  Anglo-Saxons  the  people  of  New  England  were  the 
most  orderly,  the  most  logical  in  thought,  and  the  most  per- 
sistent in  applying  their  mental  conclusions  to  practical  life. 
The  mental  capacity  was  shared  Ijy  the  Virginians — who  stand 
as  representatives  of  the  Southern  colonies  as  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  do  of  the  Northern.  In  fact,  the  Virginians . 
j)ossessed  the  quickness  and  vividness  of  conception  to  be  seen 
in  the  French,  and  had  the  high  honor  to  give  the  first  and 
fullest  expression  to  the  thought  and  aspiration  of  all  the 
colonies  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  well  as  to 
furnish  the  most  typical  patriots  and  statesmen  of  the  Repub- 
lic in  Washington  and  Jefl"erson;  but  they  had  not  the  prac- 
tica'.  tenacity  and  logical  consistency  of  the  New  Englander. 


THE  LOSS  AND  GAIN  OF  THE  YANKEE  IN  THE  WEST.  335- 

They  toleraterl  slavery  and  retained  many  Englisli  forms  and 
habits  not  in  harmony  with  the  new  growth.  They  had  the 
misfortune  to  introduce  forced  labor  into  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee, and  the  noble  and  simple-hearted  freemen  there  wanted 
the  mental  clearness  and  decision  to  divest  themselves  of  it ' 
when  first  acting  constitutionally.  The  New  Englander  in 
the  West  acquired  a  more  liberal  logic,  but  it  did  not  cease  to 
be  just  and  practical.  lie  laid  the  foundations  of  the  great 
Northwest — the  most  prosperous,  free,  and  powerful  region 
in  the  world. 

New  Englanders  have  alwaj's  highly  esteemed  their  own 
special  institutions  and  peculiarities — which  is  very  natural. 
With  their  usual  forethought  they  proposed  to  organize  their 
settlements  so  carefully  that  the  savor  and  the  vigor  of  New 
England  life  and  customs  should  be  transferi-ed  to  the  West. 
Marietta  and  its  companion  settlements  were,  therefore,  ar- 
ranged in  the  East,  with  orderly  precision.  The  township 
officers  were  provided;  the  territorial  organization  began  to- 
operate  simultaneously,  and  the  East  seemed  transferred  in 
all  its  completeness  and  peculiarities  to  the  West.  This- 
attempt,  however,  was  a  failure,  for  the  settlements  as  a  whole, 
because  they  could  not  be  kept  compact. 

Association  lost  its  force  for  the  time,  the  community  be- 
came resolved  into  its  individual  components,  who  spread  far 
and  wide  through  the  wilderness,  relying  on  themselves  almost 
entirel}^  for  a  new  start  in  life.  The  old  German  instinct  of 
individualism  reasserted  itself  with  a  greater  emphasis  than 
it  had  ever  displayed  in  England  or  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 
Society  resolved  itself  into  its  original  elements  in  the  early 
and  middle  periods  of  settlement  in  the  Valley  more  thor- 
oughly than  this  race  had  known  before  since  it  emerged 
from  the  primitive  barbarism  where  the  individual  was 
nearly  everything  and  social  force  almost  nothing. 

But,  in  this  scattering  of  the  settlers,  they  carried  ail  the 
elements  of  civilization  with  them,  and  reorganization  at  once 


336  THE    MISSISSIl'l'I    VALLEY. 

commenced  on  a  base  more  favorable  to  free  action.  The 
individual  made  more  room  around  himself,  so  to  speak,  and 
the  social  and  political  structures  resulting  no  longer  ham- 
pered him  at  any  point.  He  could  put  forth  his  whole 
strength,  and,  as  he  was  as  fully  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  the 
advantages  of  association  and  order  as  any  European,  or  citizen 
of  the  Atlantic  States,  he  inclined  to  reconstruct  with  all 
necessary  thoroughness  and  solidity.  Thus  the  institutions 
of  the  Valley  proved,  in  the  end,  to  be  more  liberal  as  to  the 
individual,  and  equally  vigorous  and  decisive  in  action.  The 
ideal  of  freedom  and  strength  in  union  was  more  nearly 
approached  in  the  West  than  in  the  East.  As  settlement 
extended  and  these  tendencies  revealed  themselves,  the  various 
restrictions  to  pojjular  sutfrage  that  had  ol>tained  in  the 
Atlantic  States  were  abandoned  in  the  Valley.  Their  exam- 
ple proved  contagious  and  extended  back  to  the  East.  So,  in 
a  thousand  ways,  the  Valley  jiroved  to  be  a  liberalizing  force 
in  the  country. 

The  careful  attention  of  the  intelligent  leaders  of  settlement 
in  the  Northwest  Territory  was  at  once  given  to  education; 
but  adecjuate  provision  for  it  was  attainable,  at  tir.st,  oidy  in 
the  towns  and  more  populous  settlements.  The  people  spread 
over  a  vast  region,  the  larger  part  of  them  were  farmers,  and 
more  attention  was  paid  to  securing  the  best  land,  after  danger 
from  the  Indiaiis  ceased,  than  to  any  other  p(jint.  We  see 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  peo])]e  thinly  s])i-inkled  over 
much  uf  the  State  of  Ohio  in  the  first  twenty -fi\e  years  fol- 
lowing the  commencement  of  settlement.  Then  the  prairie 
sections  of  the  AVest  were  opened,  the  northern  parts  of  the 
State  were  safe,  and  there  was  much  migration  to  those  regions. 
The  solitude  of  the  woods  and  thinly  settled  prairies  had  be- 
come attractive  to  some;  the  desire  for  change  and  to  secure 
the  best  lands  of  new  regions  inspired  others;  so  that,  some- 
times, by  repeated  removals,  families  were  formed  and  passed 
into  the  second  or  third  generation  in  want  of  all  the  oppor- 
tunities of  education  and  social  culture. 


AN    IMPUOVEMENT    OX    THE    NEW    ENGLAND    TYPE.  337 

But,  iiotwitlistuuding  isolation  and  liardihip,  and  though 
tlie  surface  of  tlieir  life  became  rude  and  rough,  the  real  New 
England  type  did  not  deteriorate.  The  wild  growth  was  a 
healtliv  one;  it  was  solid  and  firm.  Western  youth,  if  almost 
ignorant  of  books  and  of  the  habits  of  good  society  of  the 
older  regions,  were  bold,  inquisitive  and  pushing;  well  versed 
in  popular  politics,  and  inclined  to  pursue  their  aims  with  a 
vigor  that  commonly  secured  success.  The  thoughtfulness, 
ingenuity  and  persistence  of  the  Yankee  were  not  lost.  They 
acquired  heartiness,  independence  and  force,  and  kept  up  the 
advance  in  a  definite  direction,  as  a  whole.  They  were  ready 
to  make  sacrifices  for  public  improvements,  to  promote  edu- 
cation, and  were  extremely  thrifty  in  the  conduct  of  their 
private  affairs. 

The  New  Englander  lost  in  the  West  the  European  peculiar- 
ities of  thought  and  habit  which,  though  useful  in  some  ways, 
cramped  and  limited  him  in  others.  Social  distinctions,  polit- 
ical and  other  theories,  a  thousand  modes  of  thought  and 
habits  of  life  inherited  from  an  old  and  imperfect  civilization 
which  had  grown  out  of  circumstances  long  since  passed  away, 
but  which  left  their  impress  on  later  life,  were  preserved  on 
the  Atlantic  Slope  by  institutions  originally  cast  in  a  Euro- 
pean mould  and  preserved  by  commercial,  social  and  literary 
relations  across  the  ocean.  To  develop  the  full  strength  and 
peculiarities  suited  to  the  time  and  place  of  a  new  class  of 
men  and  of  ideas,  to  render  the  new  nation  truly  American  or 
Continental,  this  western  discipline  was  greatly  needed.  The 
new  isolation  and  the  opportunity  to  forget — the  different  inter- 
ests and  aims  of  this  new  and  vast  interior  world — recast  the 
New  Englander  as  they  had  recast  the  Virginian.  Without 
losing  his  excellencies,  he  gained  by  girding  himself  more 
fully  to  a  new  career — gained  in  breadth  and  depth,  even  as 
his  new  horizon  was  more  expanded  and  his  soil  and  resources 
•were  deeper  and  richer. 

He  lost  in  sectional  feeling,  which  is  necessarily  too  limited, 
22 


338  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  gained — by  contact  with  new  and  larger  facts,  and  asso- 
ciation with  people  of  other  regions  and  other  nationalities 
on  equal  terms — the  power  of  judging  more  freely  and  justly 
and  in  a  larger  sense.  He  became  less  a  New  Eiiglander  and 
more  an  American.  The  new  boldness  and  force  of  independ- 
ence the  western  people  acquired  under  their  long  apprentice- 
ship to  solitude,  hardship  and  difficulty  fitted  them  to  exert  a 
controlling  influence  on  new  comers  into  the  Valley  whom  they 
constrained  to  become  mentally  and  socially  acdimated,  even 
as  they  must  needs  become  physically.  The  intelligent,  the 
cultured  and  the  prejudiced  from  old  communities,  however 
strong-willed,  must  learn  to  clothe  their  thoughts  and  conduct 
in  western  style  to  secure  influence,  and  thus  the  peculiar 
tone  acquired  in  this  region  dominated  all  the  vast  multitudes 
of  immigrants  from  other  States  and  from  Europe.  They 
received,  however,  as  well  as  gave,  and  were  modified  and 
greatly  improved  by  all  the  solid  worth  and  refinement  that 
had  matured  elsewhere;  but  they  selected  what  was  appropri- 
ate and  suppressed  what  they  deemed  unfitting. 

The  later  New  Englander  usually  Ijrought  to  the  Valley 
methodical  business  habits,  a  good  education,  the  polish  of  an 
old  and  progressive  society,  and  all  these  he  imparted  to  the 
aspiring  settlers  of  the  backwoods  and  lonely  prairies.  lie 
found  an  opportunity  to  display  all  the  genuine  power  that 
was  in  him,  on  a  broad  field,  and  received  many  suggestions 
of  value  that  would  not  have  occurred  to  him  in  a  narrower 
one.  The  West,  as  every  new  country,  was  merciless  to  shams 
but  most  kindly  toward  all  that  was  true  and  valuable.  Some- 
what against  its  will,  the  East  has  felt  the  influence  of  the 
"West,  in  many  ways,  and  been  benefited  by  it. 


CHAPTEE    XVIII. 

THE  SOUTHERN  PLANTER  IN  THE  VALLEY. 

The  Southern  Valley  east  of  the  Mississippi  was  settled  to 
a  small  extent  along  the  Gulf  coast  by  the  Spanish,  French 
and  English,  previous  to  the  American  Revolution.  Com- 
paratively few  Spaniards  or  Frenchmen  remained,  however, 
after  the  English  took  possession  of  it,  and,  except  to  the 
trading  towns  on  the  Gulf,  and  the  east  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, there  was  no  extensive  immigration  before  the  severe 
chastisement  of  the  Creeks  by  Gen.  Jackson,  in  1814.  The 
Tennessee  settlements  which  had  extended  below  the  bend  of 
the  Tennessee  Eiver  numbered  several  thousand  at  the  close 
of  that  war.  Northwestern  and  southwestern  Mississippi  had 
many  thousand  settlers  by  that  time.  Many  were  from  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas.  Others  were 
descended  from  English,  Scotch  and  Irish  parents;  some  were 
from  Northern  colonies  or  States,  and  some  from  Louisiana. 
The  forced  labor  system  had  been  introduced  by  Spanish, 
French,  English,  the  colonies  and  the  States  alike. 

The  hardships  and  difficulties  which  had  been  experienced 
in  the  upper  Valley  were  comparatively  little  known  here 
except  in  the  settlements  near  the  Tennessee  Eiver,  and  in 
later  times  in  neighboring  localities.  Elsewhere  the  settle- 
ments were  along  the  rivers;  there  was  a  ready  market  for 
agricultural  products,  and  the  special  staples  raised  only 
there  had  a  sure  and  profitable  sale.  Many  of  the  settlers 
were  well  supplied  with  colored  labor,  from  the  first,  and 
soon  all  were  so.  There  was  much  more  of  comfort  and  no 
long  period  of  helpless  poverty  for  those  who  required  money 
to  pay  for  farms  and  improvements. 

The   northern  part  of  Alabama  was  in  the  Valley  of  the 

339 


340  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Tennessee  and  had  no  water  outlet  except  by  tliat  river  to  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi,  so  that  it  lay  about  four  hundred  miles 
farther  from  markets  than  Pittsburgh.  It  was  1,600  miles 
to  New  Orleans,  by  that  route,  though  that  part  of  Alabama 
is  but  500  miles  from  the  same  place  in  a  direct  line.  This, 
however,  was  but  a  small  section  of  the  state  ;  the  larger  part 
had  access  to  the  Gulf  markets  by  its  river  system. 

Pioneer  life,  for  the  multitudes  in  the  early  periods,  except 
in  the  Tennessee  Valley,  was  less  embarrassed  with  difficulty, 
either  in  reaching  the  objective  point  for  settlement  or  in  pro- 
ducing a  comfortable  income,  than  the  upper  Valley.  More 
conveniences,  implements  and  laborers  could  be  introduced  at 
the  lirst,  or  very  soon  accumulated.  The  first  settlers  east 
of  the  Mississippi  were  extremely  various  in  origin,  being 
adventurous  people  from  the  various  parts  of  the  colonies — 
or  later,  the  States  and  Territories — and  some  immigrants 
direct  from  Europe.  The  original  number,  liowever,  was  not 
very  large.  The  larger  part  of  the  settlers  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  in  1815,  were  from  Georgia,  the  Carolinas  and  Vir- 
ginia; many  were  people  of  wealth,  character  and  position, 
many  were  young  and  eiitei'prising  men  of  good  families  and 
education  ;  while  many  more,  perhaps,  were  the  struggling 
poor  who  sought  to  retrieve  their  fortunes  in  a  productive  new 
region. 

Prosperity  was  great  and  tolerably  general,  for  cotton  was 
in  great  demand  and  brought  a  high  price  for  some  years, 
and  those  who  could  profit  by  the  opportunity  soon  acquired 
wealth.  It  is  stated  that  many  plantations  produced  a  reve- 
nue of  $40,000  per  annum,  in  those  times,  and  smaller  estates 
in  the  same  proportion.  This  extraordinary  condition  oi 
things  did  not  last  long,  but  still,  southern  staples  were  al- 
ways ready  of  sale  and  extremely  profitable  to  raise.  The 
employment  of  colored  labor  and  the  great  advantage  secured 
by  the  large  over  the  small  cultivators  by  the  facility  of  in- 
creasing the  area  of  their  lands,  very  soon  produced  great  dif- 


PIONEER    LIFE    IN    THE    SODTHEEN   VALLEY.  341 

fererices  in  fortune,  and  ultimately  two  agricultural  classes — the 
planters  and  the  poor  whites.  The  large  plantations  tended 
to  increase,  and  the  smaller  to  diminish.  Capital  must  be 
invested  in  labor  to  secure  it  in  abundance. 

This  system  tended  to  make  profitable  agriculture  a  kind  of 
monopoly  of  the  wealthy  and  to  raise  a  comparatively  small 
class  to  an  eminence  resembling  a  European  aristocracy.  The 
planters  ruled  the  extreme  South  l)y  their  ownership  of  labor, 
by  the  possession  of  capital,  by  their  social  position  and  their 
intelligence.  In  the  early  periods,  while  settlement  was  in 
active  progress,  this  was  only  a  tendency.  It  ripened  fast 
after  1840  and  became  strongly  defined  before  1860. 

This  was  in  strong  contrast  with  the  upper  Valley,  where 
the  general  tendency  was  to  equalize  property,  as  far  as  indi- 
vidual differences  of  capacity  and  energy  would  permit.  There, 
the  labor  system  was  built  on  the  same  race  that  controlled 
politics,  and  there  was  no  tendency  of  agricultural  property 
and  resources  to  accumulate  in  a  few  hands,  but  rather  the 
contrary.  The  variety  of  occupations  in  the  North  also  helped 
to  maintain  greater  equality  among  the  people.  The  central 
Yalley,  or  border  slave  States,  formed  a  medium  between  the 
two,  the  tendency  being  strongly  to  the  southern  system  of 
grading  the  classes,  though  it  was  partly  counteracted  by  agri- 
cultural conditions  similar  to  those  north  of  the  Ohio. 

Viewed  from  the  industrial  point  this  southern  system  was, 
temporarily,  an  important  advantage,  since  it  rapidly  devel- 
oped enormous  wealth,  from  the  attention  given  to  the  culti- 
vation of  southern  staples — and  especially  cotton,  which  was 
in  great  demand  in  Europe — stimulated  the  commerce  of  the 
country  by  furnishing  a  large  part  of  its  most  profitable  exports, 
and  greatly  aided  to  maintain  the  balance  of  trade  with  the 
manufacturing  nations  of  Europe;  but  it  was  a  disadvantage 
in  the  long  run  since  it  deteriorated  the  fortunes  of  the  mass 
of  the  southern  people.  The  poorer  whites  had  few  resources, 
compared  with  the  poor  of  the  North,  wherewith  to  improve 


342  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

their  condition,  and  fell  to  a  continually  greater  extent,  finan- 
cially and  mentally,  under  the  control  of  the  class  which  had 
so  much  the  advantage  of  them  in  wealth  and  culture,  and  the 
influences  which  spring  from  them.  The  resources  of  the 
South  were  only  partly  developed,  and  a  great  loss  to  the  gen- 
eral community  was  sustained,  while  various  minor  evils  grad- 
ually came  to  the  surface  and  increased  in  magnitude.  Among 
the  most  important  of  these  was  the  mental  stagnation  of  the 
lower  grade  of  whites  and  the  ifnintelligent  character  of  labor. 
It  ultimately  seemed  evident  that  no  region  where  labor  was 
merely  mechanical,  where  it  had  no  mental  stimulus  or  pro- 
gressiveness  in  skill,  could  compete  with  regions  where  the 
contrary  ruled.  Resources  are  developed  from  the  mental 
force  that  is  put  into  the  work,  and  the  intelligence  that  con- 
trols the  muscles  of  the  laborer  must,  ordinarily,  to  produce 
eminent  results,  dwell  in  the  same  body.  Oversight  and  direc- 
tion, however  intelligent,  can  not  produce  results  in  compari- 
son with  intelligent  labor.  Unintelligent  labor  is  not  flexible, 
not  at  ready  command  when  changes  are  desirable,  and  imme- 
diate results  are  less  with  the  same  capital  and  numbers.  For 
a  moderate  period  this  is  not  particularly  observable,  but  in 
the  end  the  difference  is  very  great. 

Yet,  the  loss  in  this  direction  was  partly  balanced  by  the 
gain  in  another.  The  depression  of  the  two  classes  operated 
to  raise  the  third.  Among  the  immigrants  to  the  Valley  in 
the  South  were  many  gentlemen  of  the  class  that  did  such 
honorable  service  to  liberty  during  the  Revolution.  Many 
were  descended  from  the  chivalry  of  England  and  France, 
where  the  blood  of  their  forefathers  had  been  "  gentle  "  back 
to  the  dim  twilight  of  modern  European  history.  Many  of  the 
French  in  Louisiana  were  descended  from  the  higher  classes  of 
the  Mother  Country ;  and  the  settlers  from  the  southern  Atlan- 
tic States  included  many  whose  hereditary  endowments  em- 
braced all  the  advantages  and  tendencies  of  distinguished 
origin.     They  were  gentlemen  by  birth,  by  position  such  as 


FINE   QUALITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN    PLANTER.  343 

wealth  and  culture  can  give,  and  by  the  fine  instincts  and 
native  dignity  and  intelligence  which  are  the  only  excuses 
for  an  aristocracy. 

To  such  natural  leaders  were  joined  the  enterprising  and 
successful  who  made  equal  fortunes  by  ability  and  the  special 
favor  of  circumstances.  Tliese  very  often  included  persons 
who  were  coarse  and  rude,  not  very  susceptible  of  refinement, 
though,  for  the  most  part,  they  caught,  more  or  less,  the  spirit 
of  the  society  to  which  success  introduced  them.  After  the 
beginnings  were  past  and  large  incomes  were  secured,  these 
classes  usually  committed  the  care  of  labor  on  their  estates  to 
overseers  and  had  abundant  leisure;  the  education  of  their 
families  was  usually  cared  for  without  regard  to  expense  ; 
society  became  increasingly  refined.  The  fervent  climate 
which  stimulated  the  generous  qualities  of  the  race,  the  free- 
dom from  care,  the  large  incomes  and  the  isolation  of  country 
life  on  large  plantations,  gave  a  rare  geniality  and  compass  to 
social  qualities  and  furnished  the  singular  spectacle  in  the 
newly  broken  wilderness  and  the  mixed  population,  hastily 
and  recently  collected  from  many  regions,  of  a  society  of 
which  the  oldest  countries  might  be  proud. 

This  class,  when  fairly  developed  and  dominant  in  the  South, 
contained  a  few  hundred  thousand  among  several  millions  of 
whites;  but  their  mental  influence  was  deeply  felt  through- 
out the  Union.  Tliey  possessed  many  most  agreeable  and 
valuable  qualities.  Generous  and  amiable,  with  an  assured 
position  and  abundant  incomes,  they  were  rarely  severe  mas- 
ters and  the  kindness  and  sympathy  of  the  patriarchal  relation 
was  much  more  frequently  represented  between  the  master  and 
servant  than  the  outside  world  was  inclined  to  believe.  With 
some  painful  exceptions,  gentleness,  rather  than  severity,  char- 
acterized the  master.  Pecuniary  difiiculty,  which  sometimes 
broke  up  life-long  relations,  the  occasional  tyranny  of  paid 
overseers,  or  the  rise  to  wealth  of  coarse  and  violent  men — all 
which  must  be  considered  exceptions  to  the  rule — were  the 


344  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

common  causes  of  abuse  of  power  and  oppression  of  the 
helpless.  The  absoluteness  and  fixity  of  the  relation  usually 
rendered  the  master  the  more  ready  in  kindness. 

The  servant  was  of  the  gentlest  of  race.s,  apparently  want- 
ing in  the  mental  robustness  and  force  required  for  strong 
self-assertion,  revering  the  master  and  his  race  as  superior 
beings,  with  an  overflowing  abundance  of  light-heartedness 
and  the  emotional  nature  that  readily  seeks  expression  in 
strong  attachment.  This  race  was  but  a  few  generations 
removed  from  absolute  barbarism,  at  the  longest,  and  many 
had  been  born  in  it.  The  favorable  influence  of  their  white 
masters  on  them  must  now  be  conceded  in  comparing  their 
conduct,  during  and  after  the  civil  war,  with  that  of  the  same 
race  under  self-government  in  Hayti,  or  under  English  control 
after  liberation  in  Jamaica.  It  can  not  be  doubted  that  more 
happiness  and  less  suft'ering  reigned  among  the  mass  of  South- 
ern slaves  during  servitude  than  after  they  became  freedmen. 
It  is  being  tested  whether  or  not  they  can,  as  a  race,  maintain 
with  honor  the  character  and  dignity  of  citizens  on  their  own 
resources,  ^o  trial  can  be  considered  complete  until  gen- 
erations shall  have  displayed  their  tendencies  and  real  capaci- 
ties. Character  is  of  slow  growth  ;  yet  the  commencement 
is  full  of  promise. 

Perhaps  the  finest  and  most  honorable  character  in  which 
the  Southern  slaveholder  appeared  was  in  that  of  an  Ameri- 
can citizen.  Largely  of  aristocratic  descent,  habits  and  im- 
mediate surroundings,  he  proved  an  American  and  a  republi- 
can of  the  most  pronounced  type  in  all  that  related  to  the  white 
race.  No  class  in  the  republic  more  forcibly  advocated  or 
applied  the  principles,  constitutional  and  judicial,  on  which 
it  was  based.  Leaving  the  colored  man  aside,  he  was  in  fullest 
sympathy  with  that  which  was  most  distinctively  American. 
The  Constitutions  of  the  Gi;lf  States  were  even  more  liberal 
in  admitting  the  elective  principle  to  its  fullest  development 
than  those  of  the  New  England  States.   The  planter  had  leisure 


THE    PLAXTER    A    TRUE    AMERICAN.  345 

and  ambition  and  threw  himself,  with  French  vivacity  and 
Anglo-Saxon  heartiness,  into  political  life.  The  South  long 
exerted  a  controlling  influence  on  the  polities  of  the  country, 
and  its  general  liberal  development  may  testify  that  its  influ- 
ence was  not  injurious.  The  people  of  the  Southern  Valley 
were  of  more  purely  American  descent,  the  srreat  flood  of 
European  immigration  being  chiefl}'  dispersed  over  tne  iree 
States  of  the  upper  basin.  The  instincts  ef  the  ciass  and 
their  course  in  all  matters  unconnected  with  slavery  were, 
and  are,  an  honor  to  the  Anglo-American  race. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

FOREIGN    IMMIGRANTS    AS    AMERICAN    CITIZENS. 

The  Colonies  which,  in  1776,  declared  their  independence, 
and  permanently  established  the  Republic  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  had  been  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
in  reaching  a  total  population  of  about  three  million.  In 
1790  the  population  of  the  whole  country  was  about  3,200,000 
whites  and  700,000  blacks.  The  growth  had  been  slow.  The 
population  of  New  England  in  17&0  was  not  far  from  400,000, 
almost  all  of  which  was  the  increase  of  the  twenty  thousand 
Anglo-Saxons  who  emigrated  from  England  between  1620  and 
1650.  The  larger  part  of  the  immigrants  who  formed  the  other 
colonies  came  from  Europe  previous  to  1700,  and  had  long  been 
undergoing  the  process  of  transformation  from  Anglo-Saxons 
to  Anglo-Americans.  The  emigrants  from  continental  Europe 
were  an  inconsiderable  number  compared  with  those  from  the 
British  Isles  and  proved  themselves  true  Americans  during 
the  war.  That  contest  and  its  results  proved  that  a  new  race 
had  commenced  its  career  during  colonial  times. 

Previous  to  1820  comparatively  few  foreigners  found  their 
way  to  the  Valley.  Probably  not  more  than  150,000  out  of 
the  2,500,000  then  inhabiting  the  Valley  were  of  foreign  birth, 
including  the  French  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  and  the  Span- 
ish of  Florida.  Accurate  figures  are  not  attainable,  but  that 
seems  a  fair  estimate.  After  1820  statistics  of  immigration 
were  officially  kept.  From  that  year  up  to  1825  less  than 
40,000  foreigners  spread  over  the  whole  country.  O  f  these  not " 
over  25,000  came  to  the  West.  From  1825  to  1830,  including 
the  former  but  not  the  latter  year,  something  more  than  90,000 
foreigners  settled  in  the  whole  country.  The  population  of 
the  Valley  had  increased  about  a  million  and  a  half,  not  over 

346 


FOKEIGN    ELEMENTS    AT    DIFFERENT    PEEIODS.  347 

100,000  of  which  could  have  been  foreigners;  the  increase  of 
foreigners  to  the  increase  of  native  Americans  being  as  one 
to  fifteen  at  the  utmost,  and  of  foreigners  of  recent  imniigra- 
tii)n  to  the  whole  population  of  the  Valley  as  one  to  forty. 

In  184:0  the  population  of  the  Valley  was  about  6,700,000— 
an  increase  in  ten  years  of  2,700,000.  In  this  time  immigra- 
tion to  the  United  States  aggregated  540,000,  of  which  perhaps 
half  settled  in  the  Valley,  the  remainder  locating  in  cities 
and  manufactories,  or  laboring  on  pul)lic  M'orks  in  the  East. 
Between  18-iO  and  1850  immigration  to  the  United  States 
from  Europe  rose  to  about  1,350,000.  The  Valley  had  now 
over  10,000,000  inhabitants.  The  increase  of  3,300,000  proba- 
bly included  800,000  foreigners,  or  nearly  one  fourth.  Between 
1850  and  1860  more  than  two  and  a  half  million  persons  emi- 
grated from  Europe  to  the  United  States.  Of  these  perhaps 
1,500,000  settled  in  the  Valley,  which  had  gained,  in  that  time, 
more  than  6,500,000 — the  whole  population  being  about  16,600,- 
000.  Of  the  5,500,000  foreign  born  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States,  in  1870,  probably  upwards  of  three  fifths  were  in  the 
Valley.  Of  the  10,000,000  in  the  Valley  in  1850  much  less 
than  1,500,000  were  of  foreign  birth,  and  large  numbers  of 
these  were  of  American  education.  Xearly  two  thirds  of  the 
whole,  however,  had  immigrated  within  ten  years. 

The  early  periods  of  settlement  in  the  Valley  were  given  to 
the  formation  of  a  truly  American  character  and  spirit:  the 
foreign  element  being  too  small  to  do  more  than  expand  their 
views  by  aiding  the  native  Americans  to  comprehend  how 
things  looked  from  other  points  of  view  than  their  own. 
Foreigners  have  always  been  too  small  a  minority  to  exert 
much  general  control,  even  if  the  resolute  spirit  of  native 
Americans,  their  intelligence  and  aggressiveness,  had  not 
marked  them  as  the  necessarily  dominant  race. 

There  has  always  been  a  fear  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful, 
but  not  fully  instructed,  patriots  that  the  large  numbers  of 
foreigners,  who  so   readily   reached  the  position  of  citizens 


348  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

under  the  naturalization  laws,  might  do  harm  to  the  future 
of  the  republic.  It  seemed  to  them  unlikely  that  tlie  Anglo- 
American  race  would  always  be  able  to  maintain  the  firm 
control  over  their  institutions  necessary  to  their  excellence, 
with  so  large  an  element  from  abroad  able  to  turn  the  scale 
by  their  votes  at  a  critical  time.  In  the  midst  of  the  great 
tide  of  immigration,  soon  after  1S50,  this  apprehension  was 
embodied  in  a  political  party  which  undertook  to  exclude 
foreigners  from  oiScial  position ;  but  it  soon  dissolved.  Every 
agriculturist  who  emigrated  from  Europe  was  equivalent  to 
a  moderate  capital  invested  in  the  country,  speeding  its 
progress  by  developing  its  resources.  It  was  impolitic,  finan- 
cially, to  receive  immigrants  coldly  and  treat  them  with 
suspicion.  To  this  was  added  the  perception,  partly  from 
European  history  and  partly  from  the  observation  and  instinc- 
tive good  sense  of  Americans,  that  foreigners  who  came  as 
permanent  settlers  identified  their  interests  with  the  home  of 
their  adoption. 

The  crowded  population  of  European  states,  the  monopoly 
of  wealth,  influence  and  station  by  hereditary  transmission, 
the  difficulty  for  the  lower  classes  of  improving  their  future, 
the  burden  of  taxation  and  of  conscription  into  the  vast 
armies  there  maintained,  made  them  feel  like  prisoners  un- 
bound and  set  free  in  America.  Their  first,  and  usually  their 
only  thought,  for  a  series  of  years,  was  to  get  them  a  home, 
to  surround  it  with  comfort,  and  to  provide  a  future  for  their 
families.  During  these  years  they  became  familiarized  with 
American  life  and  institutions,  their  children  grew  up  as 
Americans,  became  imbued  with  tlie  temper  and  spirit  of 
natives  and  were,  usually,  fully  prepared  to  assume  the 
duties  of  citizens  when  the  burdens  of  mature  life  fell  on 
them. 

America  was  so  much  an  ideal  country  to  their  imagina- 
tions before  they  arrived,  and  the  opportunities  they  found 
were  really  so  great,  that  they  adjusted  themselves  to  Amer- 


THE    TEUTOXIC    NATIONS    EASILY    AMERICANIZED.  3-i9 

ican  ideas  very  readily.  Had  they  been  required  to  assist  in 
founding  and  shaping  the  form  of  institutions  their  want  of 
experience  and  development  must  have  had  very  unhappy 
results.  But  Americans,  almost  unassisted,  had  done  this 
already,  the  work  had  become  mature  and  all  the  tendencies 
settled  before  any  large  number  of  foreigners  came.  They 
■were  then  too  small  in  number  to  disturb  the  mighty  current 
of  American  destiny  as  Anglo-Americans  had  settled  it ; 
they  could  only  be  carried  along  with  it  and  this  was  to  a 
future  so  promising  that  they  did  not  wish  to  interfere  with 
it.  The  prospect  was  almost  as  bright  as  anything  they  could 
dream.  The  European  peasant,  who  had  nothing  but  his 
strong  arm  and  his  habits  of  labor,  and  who  had  known  no 
prospect  of  anything  in  life  but  to  labor  incessantly  for  a 
mere  pittance,  while  others  were  enriched  by  his  toil,  found 
here  a  chance  to  labor  for  himself,  to  secure  a  home  and  farm 
of  his  own  that  should  richly  reward  his  patient  industry  ; 
he  was  an  equal  among  the  free ;  he  could  educate  his  children; 
if  they  had  gifts  of  mind  and  ambition  for  honors  and  place 
they  had  an  equal  chance  with  others.  It  was  impossible  that 
they  should  not  enter  as  heartily  into  the  spirit  spread  like 
an  atmosphere  about  them  as  the  habits  of  their  early  lives 
would  permit.  Their  children  caught  the  strong  impulses  of 
a  free  society  and  grew  up  true  Americans.  Those  who  came 
with  education,  or  with  property,  found  in  them  the  means 
of  entering  on  a  new  and  high  cai-eer  of  brilliant  possibilities. 
Besides,  the  latent  spirit  of  the  Angles,  the  Saxons  and  Nor- 
mans, which  the  despotic  and  aristocratic  governments  of 
Europe  had  suppressed  in  their  races  for  ages,  now  woke  into 
life.  The  ancient  relationship  of  life  and  blood  told.  The 
steady  industry  of  the  parents  engaged  the  approval  of  the 
thrifty  American  farmers  and  the  sympathies  of  ancient 
blood  relationship  awoke  in  the  children.  The  branches  of 
the  old  race,  long  separated,  reunited  easily. 

There  was  also  a  liberalizing   influence   in   immigration. 


350  THE  MISSISSIPPI  valley. 

Nations  that  live  apart  and  often  have,  or  think  they  have, 
contrary  interests,  on  which  wars  are  founded  and  miscon- 
ceptions arise,  learn  to  think  ill  of  each  other.  Patriotism  re- 
quires them,  they  think,  to  hate  other  races  in  order  to  be  true 
to  their  own.  To  live  in  close  contact  with  foreigners,  with 
the  same  evident  interests,  is  to  enlarge  patriotism,  to  learn 
that  virtue  and  worth  are  of  no  country  or  kindred.  It  is 
a  lesson  which,  well  learned,  elevates  and  ennohiles  a  people, 
makes  them  high  minded  and  just  in  international  relations, 
and  secures  them  respect,  honor  and  much  profit. 

This  liberal  appreciation  was  learned  when  numerous  rep- 
resentatives of  many  nations  mingled  freely  with  Americans 
in  relations  such  as  to  bring  out  all  their  virtues.  The  ideas, 
the  habits,  the  mental  tone  and  different  mode  of  viewing  the 
same  subjects,  brought  out  in  amicable  intercourse  or  public 
discussion,  opened  a  wider  mental  field  to  the  intelligent,  ap- 
preciative American.  The  more  numerous  the  various  points 
from  which  the  same  thing  is  regarded  the  more  completely 
just  and  accurate  is  the  final  judgment  concerning  it.  The 
mental  breadth  of  America  gained  by  immigration. 

The  circumstances  were  favorable  for  a  fusion  of  the  foreign 
qualities  and  for  casting  them  in  the  native  mould.  Neigh- 
borhood, social  and  political  life  embraced  all  the  various  ele- 
ments ;  there  being  no  strong  causes  to  maintain  separation,  and 
many,  to  introduce  intimate  union,  they  mingled  and  brought 
a  result  differing  in  various  ways  from  either  of  the  constitu- 
ents combining.  Where  two  or  more  races  can  so  unite,  on 
terms  not  too  unequal,  it  is  an  advantage  to  both.  The  union 
of  races  has  been  one  of  the  most  important  elements  of  prog- 
ress known  to  civilization.  Physical  and  mental  vigor  are  im- 
proved; the  blood  is  made  richer;  thought  is  enlarged;  anew 
genius,  or  mental  element,  is  produced.  So  the  hardy,  bold 
Northman  gained  by  contact  with  the  vivacity  and  light  tem- 
per of  France.  Ilis  solid  qualities  took  on  a  brilliant  polish. 
Conquering  Saxon  England,  botli  Saxons  and  Normans  were 


NATIVES   AND    FOREIGNERS    MODIFY    EACH    OTHER.  351 

improved  bj  the  contact,  and  development  in  England  was 
hastened.  So  the  French  in  America  have  mingled  with  the 
citizens  and  improved  the  character  of  the  downright,  eager, 
bnsiness-like  Angk^-Saxons;  the  Germans  have  brought  phys- 
ical stamina  and  mental  equanimity,  and  the  Irish  quick  blood 
and  careless  joviality. 

All  these  and  other  special  characteristics  of  the  several 
races  meet  and  mutually  modify  each  other  in  society  and 
baisiness,  by  intermarriage,  and  by  various  modes  of  contact. 
They  give  and  take,  or,  at  times,  perhaps,  neutralize  each  other 
in  the  mental  chemistry  of  the  product,  and  make  the  Anglo- 
American  nation  richer  in  aptitudes,  better  balanced  in  mind 
and  action,  broader  and  more  just  in  judgment.  This  has 
been  the  evident  tendency.  The  larger  flow  of  immigration 
has  been  comparatively'  recent,  and  the  fusion,  so  far  as  much 
of  it  is  concerned,  is  still  very  incomplete;  but  the  process  has 
been  long  in  operation;  it  commenced  with  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  colonies;  it  has  been  proceeding  on  a  large  scale 
since  1820,  and  the  result  is  fairly  evident.  The  digestion 
of  the  Anglo- American  body  politic  is  strong;  foreigners  have 
not  endangered  the  Republic,  have  not  upset  public  schools, 
have  not  sought  to  raise  up  an  aristocracy.  Evils  have  oeen 
abundant  but  not  as  harmful  or  permanent  as  they  seemed. 
Time  will  dispose  of  them  all. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

EDUCATIONAL    BEGINNINGS    IN    THE    VALLEY. 

A  Republic  is  dependent,  beyond  any  other  form  of  govern- 
ment, on  the  intelligence  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  The  endur- 
ing excellence  of  its  institutions,  springing  immediately  from 
the  people  and  constantly  subject  to  their  control  and  revi- 
sion, can  not  exceed  the  combined  wisdom  of  the  majority. 
Should  that  majority  consent  to  allow  superior  individuals  to 
organize  them,  it  must  be  capable  of  appreciating  excellence; 
otherwise  they  will  fail  in  submission,  in  continuously  appoint- 
ing equally  wise  administrators,  or  in  preserving  the  excellent 
features  long  enough  to  allow  them  to  produce  their  appro- 
priate results.  In  a  popular  government  the  wisdom  of  the 
statesmen  must  be  fully  supported  by  the  clear,  steady  intel- 
ligence of  the  populace. 

So  far  as  we  have  examined  we  have  seen  this  to  be  the  case 
in  the  Valley,  in  a  general  way,  and  that  the  wisdom  of  the 
people  increased  more  rapidly  in  proportion  than  the  growth 
of  the  country.  Elements  of  danger  and  difficulty  multiplied 
on  every  hand  as  population  from  without  poured  in;  yet  the 
people  proved  themselves  masters  of  every  situation,  solved 
every  difficulty  in  harmony  with  the  principles  first  adopted, 
and  made  eminent  progress  in  every  direction.  Whence 
they  derived  this  intelligence,  and  how  they  perpetuated  and 
increased  it  for  thi'ee  generations,  are  questions  of  interest. 
If  they  receive  but  a  general  and  partial  answer  here  it  is  be- 
cause this  was  only  a  Period  of  Beginnings,  and  in  following 
out  their  results  at  a  later  time,  it  will  be  more  interesting 
and  impressive  to  make  the  view  of  educational  progress  in 
the  Valley  fairly  complete  then.  To  notice  when  and  where 
the  tree,  that  afterwards  bore  noble  fruit,  was  planted,  and 

352 


ORIGIN    OF    POPULAR    EDUCATION.  353 

from  what  sources  its  roots  drew  noiirishiaent,  falls  in  with 
the  present  plan  and  is  essential  to  a  full  comprehension  of 
the  character  of  this  epoch. 

Almost  as  soon  as  there  came  to  bo  educated  men  in  the 
•Greek  republics,  nearly  500  years  before  the  Christian  Era, 
the  importance  of  general  education  was  perceived  by  the 
more  thoughtful;  but  they  were  too  far  ahead  of  their  times 
to  be  able  to  give  prevalence  to  their  views.  The  Christian 
•church  had  no  sooner  emerged  from  its  early  persecutions  than 
it  began  to  educate  the  common  people;  but  the  disorders  of 
the  time  allowed  them  small  success.  Serious  efforts  were 
made  by  Charlemagne  to  promote  study,  and  the  church,  from 
800  to  1200,  issued  frequent  decrees,  through  Popes  and  Coun- 
cils, ordering  the  establishment  of  schools  for  the  children  of 
the  poor,  without  pay;  but  the  disorganized  and  miserable  state 
in  which  society  was  held  by  the  Feudal  System  defeated  these 
efforts.  Besides,  until  the  multiplication  of  books  by  the  dis- 
covery of  the  printing  press,  iu  1440,  their  scarcity  and  high 
price  made  progress  almost  impossible. 

The  religious  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  hundred 
years  later,  availed  themselves  of  the  press  to  promulgate  their 
views,  and  naturally  took  much  interest  in  the  spread  of  edu- 
cation among  the  common  people.  Protestantism  was  an 
appeal  from  the  authority  of  the  few  to  the  private  judgment 
of  each  individual  among  the  masses  of  the  peojile.  This 
appeal  assumed  previous  instruction,  the  facilities  for  gaining 
it  were  now  great,  and  education  spread  widely,  especially 
among  the  Germans  and  Anglo-Saxons.  The  religious  and 
political  disorders  of  England  prevented  its  taking  the  lead 
In  well  organized  school  systems,  and  Germany  had  the  honor 
of  making  the  first  persistent  and  successful  attempts  to 
organize  general  educatioH. 

At  an  early  period,  in  England,  numerous  grammar  schools 
had  been  established  by  persons  of  wealth  and  eminence, 
■which  were  largely  increased   from  time  to  time,  after  the 


354  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

destruction  of  monastic  establishments;  and,  for  three  centu- 
ries before  the  establishment  of  American  Independence, 
sums  that  would  be  equivalent  to  three  or  four  millions  of 
dollars  were  expended  annually  on  grammar  schools  and  free 
schools,  in  educating  the  English  people.  Parochial  schools 
were  established  in  Scotland  in  1696,  which  contributed 
greatly  to  general  education.  The  wealthier  classes  in  Eng- 
land have  been  educated,  for  many  centuries,  in  the  universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Holland  and  Sweden  had 
taken  pains  to  promote  general  instruction  before  the  period 
of  English  settlement  in  America;  and  thus  the  nationalities 
Avhich  sent  the  most  of  the  emigrants  who  aided  in  founding 
the  Thirteen  Colonies,  sent  with  them  the  habit  of,  and  the 
desire  for,  popular  education. 

The  Puritans  of  Xew  England  immediately  ordered  schools 
to  be  established  in  all  the  townships,  and  all  the  other  colonies, 
from  New  York  to  Georgia,  followed  their  example,  more  or 
less  closely,  or  rather,  brought  with  them  from  England, 
Holland,  Sweden,  Huguenot  France  and  Germany,  school- 
masters and  books,  as  a  necessity  of  life. 

Before  1776,  there  were  eleven  Colleges  in  existence  in  the 
colonies  which  remain  to  this  da}' ;  and  nine  academies, 
founded  between  1665  and  177-i,  are  still  in  operation.  Before 
ISOO  twelve  more  colleges  and  twenty-eight  academies,  that 
are  still  flourishing,  were  founded.  Out  of  New  England, 
the  want  of  common  schools,  organized  by  the  government 
for  teaching  the  rudiments  of  education,  was  supplied  by 
church,  or  parochial,  and  private  schools.  In  1776  there  were 
twenty-nine  libraries  in  the  thirteen  new  made  States,  and 
thirty-seven  newsj^apers.  The  latter  increased  to  150  by 
1800. 

Washington,  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  and  all  the  statesmen 
who  acted  a  distinguished  part  in  founding  our  institutions, 
urged  the  greatest  diligence  in  providing  for  universal  educa- 
tion, and  the  framers  of  the  ordinance  of  1787  were  mindful 


EAKLY    HINDRANCES    TO    COMMON    SCHOOLS.  355 

of  this  point,  when  they  insisted,  in  this  fundamental  law 
which  controlled  the  foundation  of  five  great  States,  on  "  the 
means  of  education  ''  being  provided  •'  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  schools."  In  1802,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  gave  effect  to  this  provision,  by  presenting  the  sixteenth 
section  in  each  township,  or  the  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  pub- 
lic lands,  tt>  the  State  of  Ohio  for  the  support  of  common 
schools,  besides  three  whole  townships  in  support  of  colleges. 
This  became  a  common  provision  in  forming  the  new  states 
ever  after. 

The  settlers,  then,  brought  across  the  mountains  a  sense  of 
the  importance  of  education.  During  the  Indian  wars  and 
the  disturbed  and  scattered  state  of  the  settlements,  they  could 
do  little  to  give  effect  to  this  feeling;  but  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee made  provisions  for  educational  establishments  as  soon 
us  they  had  organized  governments,  and  Ohio  imitated  New 
England,  from  the  first,  as  far  as  the  scattered  condition  of  the 
settlers  and  their  limited  means  permitted.  These  two  last 
mentioned  obstacles  were  an  almost  insuperable  bar  to  the 
advancement  of  education,  in  the  newer  and  more  thinly  set- 
tled sections  of  the  Valley,  for  more  than  fifty  years.  In  the 
towns  and  more  prosperous  settlements,  which  were  commonly 
near  the  navigable  streams,  these  difliculties  were  soon  con- 
(^uered,  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  where  a  number  of  fam- 
ilies lived  near  each  other,  and  found  a  sufficient  market  for 
labor  or  produce  to  raise  the  means,  they  combined  to  support 
a  school. 

Often,  however,  they  lived  far  apart,  the  State  had  small 
cash  resources  for  distribution,  or  none  at  all,  and  multitudes 
of  the  young  grew  up  with  no  means  of  education.  Books 
were  scarce  and  dear,  and  money  scarcer  still :  therefore  much 
of  western  society  was,  for  a  long  time,  wild  and  rude.  A 
love  of  isolation  and  solitude,  combined  with  the  hope  of  bet- 
tering their  fortunes  and  the  spirit  of  adventure  to  introduce 
on  the  frontiers  the  habit  of  selling  "  improvements,"  as  pop- 


356  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ulation  began  to  miilti])ly,  and  going  to  wilder  and  more  lonely 
regions  to  commence  anew.  An  emigrating  mania,  thus,  for 
several  decades,  kept  a  portion  of  the  people  far  from  all  edu- 
cational advantages,  and  multitudes  of  the  young  grew  up  to 
manhood  with  little  or  no  culture.  But  such  a  life  had  com- 
paratively few  of  the  disadvantages  which  surround  ignor- 
ance in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  society.  The  woods  and 
prairies  allowed  them  to  grow  wild;  they  did  not  often  be- 
come corrupt — a  very  fortunate  circumstance. 

To  this  is  to  be  added  that  inhabitants  from  more  favored 
regions  settled  near, or  mingled  with,  them, from  time  to  time; 
association  with  these  modified  their  ignorance  and  rudeness, 
and,  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  a  steady  improvement 
went  on.  The  intellectual  ambition  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
did  not  permit  them  to  become  debased,  and  prompted  them 
to  improve  all  the  means  of  rising  that  fell  in  their  way. 
The  West  was  again  indebted  to  the  East  and  to  Europe,  when 
order  began  to  rise  out  of  the  social  chaos  of  settlement.  In 
some  of  the  eastern  States  an  organized  common  school  sys- 
tem had  been  attempted,  about  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
which  was  not  very  successful,  at  first,  from  lack  of  means  and 
experience;  they  were  repeated  and  improved,  from  1812  to 
1820,  and  began  then  to  awaken  the  interest  of  all  sections  of 
the  country.  About  1830  the  German  methods,  which  had  been 
thoroughly  reorganized  and  much  improved  after  the  great  wars 
with  Napoleon,  began  to  be  studied  by  other  nations,  and  capa- 
ble men  were  sent,  from  diiferent  sections  of  this  country,  to 
observe  and  report  on  them.  The  result  was  a  remarkal)le 
growth  of  interest  in  the  organization  of  common  schools  in 
most  of  the  old  States. 

The  enthusiasm  was,  in  due  time,  communicated  to  the 
West,  which  was  beginning  to  feel  the  pulses  of  a  new  pros- 
perity as  its  commerce  and  resources  enlarged  after  the  in- 
troduction of  steamboats  on  its  rivers  and  lakes.  The  large 
immigration  of  families  accustomed  to  consider  education 


THE   FREE    SCHOOL    SYSTEM    IN    THE    VALLEY.  357 

indispensable,  the  westward  flow  of  ambitious  jonng  men, 
recent  graduates  of  eastern  scliools,  who,  with  little  or  no 
capital  but  their  education  to  start  them  in  life,  sought  situ- 
ations for  teaching  until  a  higher  career  should  open  to  them, 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  tendency  in  the  direction  of  general 
education  which  could  not  fail  to  become  strong  among  all 
who  felt  anxious  for  the  success  of  the  new  Republic. 

The  importance  of  a  system  of  free  schools  began  to  be  agi- 
tated in  Ohio  soon  after  1820,  and,  at  the  same  time  with  a 
great  system  of  public  works,  one  was  organized  by  law,  in 
that  State,  in  February,  1825.  The  zealous  partisans  of  each 
iinited,  joined  hands  to  carry  through  what  neither  could  do 
alone,  and  commenced,  in  both  cases,  a  new  stage  of  develop- 
ment for  the  State,  and,  by  the  force  of  its  example,  for  all 
the  West.  Indiana  had  already  inserted  an  educational  law 
in  her  statute  book,  as  a  beginning.  Illinois  was  involved  in 
many  financial  disasters  by  the  inexperience  and  overhaste  of 
her  legislators.  "When,  in  1845,  she  began  to  recover  and  to 
attend  more  carefully  to  educational  interests,  it  was  still  found 
difficult  to  organize  a  satisfactory  system  and  provide  a  suffi- 
cient fund  for  the  education  of  all  the  young  in  the  State. 
After  many  eiforts,  with  imperfect  results,  a  law  of  1855  set 
her  educational  machinery  in  motion  with  great  success. 

About  1837  Michigan  commenced  a  fine  career  as  a  State 
educator.  Between  1850  and  1860  a  very  great  improvement 
took  place  in  most  of  the  States  of  the  West.  Kentucky  and 
Louisiana,  and  other  southern,  or  slave,  States,  had  endeavored 
to  organize  in  the  same  direction.  The  General  Government 
was  generous  in  bestowing  yniblic  lands,  which  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  liberal  fund  for  popular  education.  In  the  free 
States  the  difficulties  to  efficient  organization  constantly  dimin- 
ished as  population  multiplied,  as  ignorance  of  methods  was 
dissipated  by  agitation  and  by  success  in  various  States, 
and  as  resources  increased.  In  most  of  the  slave  States,  how- 
ever, the  hindrances  to  a  good  and  efficient  system  of  com- 


358  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

mon  schools  tended  to  increase.  Estates  became  larger  and 
the  white  inhabitants  more  scattered  ;  the  education  of  the 
blacks  was  found  incompatible  with  their  continuance  in 
slavery,  and  a  great  inequality  of  conditions — inconsiderable 
at  first — gradually  arose  among  the  whites,  which  rendered  a 
common  school  system,  like  those  of  the  northern  States,  more 
and  more  difficult.  Education  was  not  neglected,  but  was  con- 
fined chiefly  to  the  wealthier  classes  and  to  the  towns,  or  to 
private  schools  or  family  tutors.  Perhaps  a  larger  number  in 
proportion  received  a  finished  education. 

In  1832,  there  were  nineteen  colleges  in  the  Western 
States  and  less  than  half  the  number  in  the  Southern 
part  of  the  Valley.  The  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools  was 
one  to  five  of  the  whole  population  in  New  England,  one  to 
eight  in  Pennsylvania,  one  to  thirteen  in  Illinois  and  one  to 
twenty-one  in  Kentucky.  That  State,  Tennessee  and  Mis- 
souri were  more  successful  in  general  education  than  the 
cotton-growing  States  of  the  lower  Valley.  Yet,  leaving  out 
the  blacks,  there  was  as  wide  a  difl'usion  of  intelligence  as 
could  possibly  be  expected  in  a  country  so  new. 

The  Northwestern  States,  having  fewer  checks  to  educational 
improvement  and  a  larger  number  of  earnest  and  ambitious 
partisans  of  universal  education,  once  fairly  entered  on  this 
career  of  organization  and  reform,  pursued  it  with  a  vigor 
and  thoroughness  worthy  of  all  praise.  Republican  freedom, 
the  invigorating  discipline  inseparable  from  the  conquest  of 
so  many  enemies,  and  the  establishment  of  all  the  attributes 
and  comforts  of  civilization  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations 
in  the  wilds  of  the  western  continent,  had  the  efl'ect  to  add  to 
the  sober  and  conservative  progressiveness  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
somewhat  of  the  dash  and  vivacity  of  the  Gallic  race.  The 
American  has  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Frenchman. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  Valley  encouraged  these  features 
of  Anglo-American  character.  These  rich  resources  and 
great  opportunities  stimulated  conception  and  execution.     In 


EAPID    GROWTH    OF    THE    COMMON    SCHOOLS.  359 

a  few  years  a  wild  forest  or  a  virgin  prairie  appealed  like  a 
long  settled  region.  The  entire  complicated  machinery  of 
social,  industrial,  commercial  and  political  life  was  organized. 
Between  1840  and  1860  a  work,  that  might  have  sufficed 
for  a  century  in  any  other  country,  was  accomplished  by  the 
busy  thought  and  the  active  hand  of  the  Valley. 

In  1850  the  number  of  schools  of  all  classes  in  the  United 
States  and  Territories  was  87,257.  Of  these,  42,360  were  in 
the  Valley;  and,  out  of  3,642,094  pupils  in  all  the  schools  in 
the  country  at  that  time,  1,581,000  were  in  the  Valley.  Ohio 
was  the  most  compactly  settled,  the  oldest  of  the  Northwestern 
States,  and  had  the  largest  number  of  inhabitants  of  New 
England  origin.  She  had  also  given  more  careful  attention 
to  her  schools  for  a  longer  period  than  any  other  in  the  West. 
She  had  about  one  fourth  of  the  whole  number  of  schools  in 
the  Valley  in  1850  and  nearly  one  third  of  all  the  pupils.  The 
schools  of  all  the  East  had  been  educating  the  future  inhab- 
itants of  the  Valley  from  the  first.  Therefore  its  measure  of 
educated  intelligence  was  always  very  much  greater  than 
•could  be  furnished  by  its  own  schools.  Its  relations  to  the 
rest  of  the  Union  were  greatly  in  its  favor.  It  received  a 
good  portion  of  the  educated  men,  of  the  best  and  most  active 
lousiness  talent,  and  of  the  productive  capital  of  the  country. 
How  could  it  fail  to  prosper  ? 

In  1860  there  were  115,224  schools  of  all  kinds  in  the  whole 
country.  Of  these,  63,700  were  in  the  Valley^over  5,000 
more  than  one  half  of  the  whole — while,  out  of  the  5,477,037 
pupils  attending  all  the  schools  in  the  country,  3,175,800 
were  in  the  Valley — nearly  two  thirds  of  the  whole.  The 
increase  in  the  number  of  schools  in  the  whole  country  from 
1850  to  1860  was  28,224,  of  which  21,340  were  in  the  Valley. 
The  whole  increase  in  the  number  of  pupils  in  all  the  schools 
of  the  Eepublic  was  1,834,943,  of  which  number  1,594,800, 
■were  in  the  Valley.  The  increase  of  pupils  in  all  the  rest  of 
the  country  east  and  west  of  the  Valley,  in  the  ten  years,  was 


360  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

only  a  little  over  240,000— the  gain  in  the  Valley  was,  there- 
fore, nearly  seven  times  that  of  the  other  States  and  Terri- 
tories. 

Modern  intelligence  is  sometimes  estimated  by  the  circula- 
tion of  newspapers.  In  1850  there  were  2,52G  newspapers  in 
the  United  States  and  Territories;  in  1860  there  were  -4,051. 
There  were  1,060  in  the  Valley  in  1850;  in  1860  it  had  2,048. 
The  gain  in  the  Valley  was  988;  in  the  rest  of  the  country 
537 — but  little  more  than  half  as  much.  The  whole  number 
of  copies  of  all  these  newspapers  printed  in  1850  was  426,409,- 
978;  in  1860  it  was  927,951,548 — about  seventy-five  million 
more  than  double.  The  number  of  copies  printed  in  the  Val- 
ley in  1850  was  95,071,615;  in  1860,  239,817,362,  the  number 
here  being  nearly  two  and  a  half  times  as  many.  The  abso- 
lute increase  of  the  rest  of  the  country  was  nearly  one  and  a 
half  times  greater  than  the  increase  in  the  Valley  during  the 
ten  years;  but  the  western  and  southern  papers  had,  in  gen- 
eral, but  a  limited  local  circulation,  while  many  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  East  had  been  long  established,  were  ably  edited, 
and  had  avast  circulation  in  the  Valley  itself.  Every  number 
of  these  papers  read  in  the  Valley  would  diminish  the  differ- 
ence by  two.  It  is  probable  that  all  the  numbers  of  dailies, 
semi-weeklies  and  weeklies  printed  in  the  East  and  sent  to  the 
Valley  would  restore  to  it  much  of  the  superiority  in  this  point 
also. 

The  earnest  and  almost  universal  interest  in  education,  the 
great  facilities  which  had  been  multiplying  rapidly  for  thirty 
years,  and  the  general  previous  education  of  the  immigrants, 
insured  a  high  degree  of  intelligence  throughout  the  Valley 
among  all  the  white  population,  which  the  imiversal  diffusion 
of  newspaper  literature  aided  very  much  to  develop.  Great 
prosperity  and  a  long  experience  had  enabled  most  of  tlie 
more  populous  States,  especially  of  the  upper  Valley,  to  per- 
fect the  organization  of  schools  of  all  grades  and  to  give  them 
an  extension  so  complete  that  the  most  happy  results  were 


GREAT    ACTIVITY    OF    MORAL    FORCES.  3G1 

obtained  during  all  this  decade.  The  qualifications  of  teach- 
ers were  everywhere  raised  and  greater  thoroughness  obtained. 
The  same  opportunities  were  perhaps  twice  as  effective  in  1860 
as  in  1840  in  the  great  mass  of  common  schools,  and  a  much 
larger  number  in  proportion  received  an  extended  education. 
Moral  and  religious  influences  also  gained  in  about  the  same 
proportion.  In  1850  there  were  18,300  churches  iu  the  Val- 
ley; they  had  increased,  in  1S60,  to  28,800 — a  gain  of  10, .500. 
The  gain  in  the  number  of  churches  in  the  rest  of  the  coun- 
try was  but  .5, -100.  This  indicates  great  religious  activity  and 
a  large  proportionate  increase  of  moral  foi'ce.  The  value  of 
church  property  in  the  whole  Valley,  in  1850,  was  $24,300,- 
000;  in  1860,  $58,100,000.  In  the  rest  of  the  country  the 
gain  was  $50,154,000,  and  in  the  Valley  $33,800,000.  The 
precious  metals  produced  in  California  at  this  time,  and  the 
great  prosperity  of  the  whole  country  spread  ease  and  wealtli 
through  the  East.  The  West  was  employed  in  laying  foun- 
dations. Costly  church  buildings  became  abundant  in  the 
former;  in  the  latter  a  larger  proportion  were  inexpensive. 
Church  accommodations  in  the  Valley  increased  from  6,400,- 
000  to  9,700,000,  a  gain  of  3.300,000  sittings;  while  in  the 
rest  of  the  country  the  gain  of  sittings  was  but  1,591,000 — a 
much  more  extensive  provision  for  religious  instruction  and 
all  the  ameliorating  and  elevating  influences  which  it  exerts 
on  society  was  thus  made  in  the  Valley. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

INDUSTRIAL     PKOGEESS    TO     1860. 

Manufactures  commenced  in  the  Valley  with  the  first  fam- 
ilies who  occupied  the  log  cabins  and  block  houses  raised  in 
the  incipient  clearings.  They  could  bring  almost  nothing 
with  them  through  the  forest  paths  that  were  followed  across 
the  mountains  and  valleys.  What  they  could  not  do  without 
their  own  ingenious  skill  must  produce.  With  almost  no 
tools  these  were  rude  enough,  but  served  the  purpose.  But 
soon  the  active  enterprise  and  inventive  genius  native  to  the 
race  commenced  manufactures  at  Pittsburgh.  This  was, 
necessarily,  by  slow  degrees,  for  the  people  had  little  where- 
with to  pay.  When  the  Indian  war  was  over,  however,  manu- 
factures prospered  in  Pittsburgh,  which  soon  became  famous 
for  its  glass  and  iron  works,  and  ever  continued  to  be  one  of 
the  principal  centers  of  this  industry;  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  it  was  called  the  "  Birmingham  of  the  West."  The 
Yankees  of  Ohio  soon  contrived  to  give  it  a  rival  in  Cincin- 
nati. 

Manufactures  were  carried  on  by  mechanics  on  a  compara- 
tively small  scale,  in  most  of  the  villages,  for  local  sale,  and 
trade  gradually  enlarged  the  call  for  the  products  of  the  chief 
manufacturing  centers  until  after  1815,  when  they  received  a 
great  impulse.  Iron  works  multiplied  in  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia, Ohio  and  Tennessee.  Machinery  for  steam  engines,  and 
every  variety  of  iron  articles  then  in  use,  was  made  at  Pitts- 
burgh and  Cincinnati. 

In  1826,  Cincinnati  produced  $1,800,000  worth  of  manu- 
factures. It  was  estimated,  in  1835,  that  the  amount  was 
$5,000,000.  Pittsburgh  was  not  far  behind,  and  along  the 
Ohio  and  many  of  the  towns  on  the  streams  tributary  to  it 

363 


THE    RISE    OF    IIANUFACTCEES    IN    THE    WEST.  363 

factdries  sprung  up  at  an  early  time.  Accurate  statistics  were 
not  easily  obtained  in  periods  prior  to  1S50,  but  the  increase 
was  very  rapid.  In  1840,  Cincinnati  produced  manufactured 
articles  valued  at  $14,500,000;  and  in  1841,  $17,400,000;  and 
in  1847,  the  production  was  believed  to  be  nearly  $30,000,000. 
In  1850,  the  whole  Valley  produced  manufactures  valued 
at  $240,000,000.  In  1860,  at  $440,000,000.  Manufacturing 
establishments  numbered  41,968,  in  1850,  and  52,137  in  1860. 

While  manufactures  shyly  stood  in  tlie  background  of  the 
upper  Ohio,  as  if  uncertain  of  the  reception  they  might  meet  in 
tlie  middle  Valley,  devoted  by  its  soil  to  agriculture,  and  by 
its  Rivers,  Lakes  and  Gulf  to  commerce  and  trade,  these  last 
availed  themselves  of  its  machinery  to  enlarge  their  operations 
a  thousand  fold.  Not  until  the  railroad  era  had  prepared  their 
way,  did  the  more  important  manufactures  venture  boldly  out 
from  the  vicinity  of  the  mountains  and  establish  themselves 
on  the  borders  of  the  prairies,  at  Chicago  and  St.  Louis.  From 
those  points  they  spread  themselves  through  the  West.  The 
general  diffusion,  however,  was  deferred,  in  large  part,  until 
the  civil  war  was  over. 

By  the  time  three  millions  of  people  had  settled  themselves 
to  the  work  of  developing  the  resources  of  the  soil  in  the 
Valley — which  was  only  one  generation  after  the  first  census 
in  1790  had  ascertained  that  there  were  but  little  over  three 
naillions  of  whites  in  the  whole  United  States — commerce 
and  trade  had  secured  the  effective  aid  of  steam. 

Up  to  that  time,  the  river  currents  and  human  muscle  had 
been  the  main  propelling  forces  used  by  internal  commerce. 
The  Erie  canal  was  not  opened  to  the  lake  for  several  years, 
and  the  wind  could  be  but  little  used  on  the  rivers.  Muscle 
and  current  were  opposed  to  each  other  when  the  rivers  had 
to  be  ascended.  The  will  power  and  muscular  force  among 
the  stalwart  settlers  were  great,  but  the  difiiculties  opposed 
by  vast  distances  were  still  greater.  Man  alone  against  nature 
is  weak ;  when  he  can  summon  any  desirable  amount  of  natural 


364  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

force  to  his  aid,  and  liis  mental  power  is  turned  from  the  use 
of  the  muscles  to  the  product  and  supervision  of  machinery 
that  obliges  nature  herself  to  become  his  drudge,  he  is  really 
supreme. 

So  the  property  that  floated  on  the  streams  of  the  Valley 
for  exchange  rose  from  a  few  millions  in  1821,  to  $220,000,000 
in  1841,  and  $350,000,000  in  1850.  In  the  latter  year,  the 
commerce  of  the  lakes  was  estimated  at  $140,000,000,  and 
railroads  had  already  begun  to  share  the  burden  of  transpor- 
tation to  and  from  the  Valley,  so  that  $500,000,000  would 
not  cover  the  value  of  this  interior  commerce.  Manufactures 
had  now  come  to  be  produced  in  the  Valley  itself  at  the  rate 
of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  annually,  and  only  part 
of  these  were  distributed  by  the  water  routes,  so  that  trade 
outside  these  lines  was  immense.  "We  may  suppose  the  trade 
of  the  whole  Valley  to  have  been  worth,  at  least,  one  thousand 
million  dollars  a  year  at  this  time.  This  was  only  the  begin- 
ning of  the  colossal. activities  developed  in  the  Valley  ;  for 
only  now  was  the  transporting  agent  capable  of  answering 
all  demands. 

All  this  vast  business  rested  on  agriculture  as  its  base.  The 
manufactures  were  only  for  the  Valley,  and  were  very  far  from 
supplying  its  wants.  Millions  of  people  were  supported  in 
the  East  and  in  Europe  by  the  proceeds  of  the  fabrics  they 
made  for  the  Valley  people.  More  than  half  of  the  foreign 
exports  of  the  country  were  drawn  from  the  soil  of  this  region, 
and  a  large  part  of  the  wealth  gained  by  the  Eastern  trades- 
men, manufacturers  and  capitalists  was  furnished  from  the 
same  source.  By  1852,  $100,000,000  had  been  invested  in 
building  canals  to  furnish  additional  outlets  to  the  produce 
of  western  farms,  and  from  1850  to  1860  some  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  were  spent  in  building  railroads  in  the 
Valley  itself  In  1859  the  revenues  of  the  four  trunk  lines, 
connecting  the  northern  Valley  with  the  seaboard,  were  $19,- 
500,000.     We  are  lost,  from  this  time,  in  vast  figures,  which 


THE    GREAT    PROGRESS    MADE    FROM    1850    TO    1860.         365 

labor  in  vain  to  represent  to  us  the  great  results  of  develop- 
ment in  this  fruitful  soil.  The  channels  of  commerce  and 
trade  whose  spring  was  in  the  Yalley,  had  become  so  numer- 
ous, flowed  so  freely,  and  in  so  many  directions,  that  it  is 
quite  inipossiljle  to  ascertain  their  sum. 

Agricultural  beginnings  had  been  small.  At  first  there 
•was  little  demand  for  the  food  products  the  settlers  coxild  fur- 
nish so  readily.  But,  by  degrees,  steam  changed  the  face  of 
the  world  and  revolutionized  business.  Manufacturing  and 
commercial  activity  produced  hundreds  of  millions  and  sent 
them  circulating  tlirough  the  Valley,  the  Atlantic  States  and 
Europe.  Great  cities  multiplied  everywhere,  or  increased 
their  populations  to  be  fed,  at  an  unprecedented  rate,  and 
markets  enlarged.  Steamboats  and  railroads  came  when  the 
world  was  ready  for  them.  Agriculture  in  the  Valley  devel- 
oped as  markets  opened  and  facilities  for  transportation  were 
supplied.  It  was  the  Age  of  Invention,  the  Age  of  Begin- 
nings for  new  and  broader  activities,  the  world  over.  To  pro- 
duce the  machinery,  and  all  the  accompaniments  of  its  use, 
required  the  labor  of  vast  numbers  of  workmen,  and  other 
multitudes  entered  the  shops  and  manufactories  that  were 
pre])ared  to  transform  the  raw  material  into  articles  of  trade 
to  be  transported  over  the  world.  It  was  an  extraordinary 
time — one  of  the  great  crises  in  the  progress  of  mankind. 

Most  of  the  enlargement,  in  Europe  and  America,  reacted 
on  the  Valley,  in  some  form,  and  increased  its  prosperity.  Its 
resources  were  inexhaustible  and  easily  drawn  out  as  required. 
The  farmers  had  overflowing  crops  on  a  small  percentage  of 
the  soil;  they  stood  ready  to  answer  all  calls  for  food  supplies 
and  cotton.  Had  the  demand  been  ten  times  as  large  it  would 
soon  have  been  met.  This  progress  has  always  waited  on  the 
needs  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  that  is,  on  markets.  The  num- 
ber of  acres  of  improved  land,  in  1850,  was  52,400,000;  in 
1860,  it  was  90,000,000.  The  value  of  all  the  land  inclosed  in 
farms  was  $1,400,000,000  in  1850;  in  1860  it  was  $3,700,000,000. 


366  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

The  annnal  value  of  the  agricultural  products  of  the  whole 
country  was  increased,  during  this  ten  years,  by  $1,000,000,000, 
and  much  the  largest  part  of  this  increase  was  in  the  Valley. 

The  investment  of  capital  from  sources  outside  the  Valley 
was  very  extensive.  The  people  themselves  had  all  they  could 
do  here  to  lay  foundations.  The  farms  were  to  be  opened; 
private  dwellings,  fences,  barns,  agricultural  implements  and 
stock,  absorbed  vast  sums.  In  older  sections  the  public  build- 
ings for  State,  county,  city  or  town  and  neighb<jrhood  uses; 
the  roads,  grading,  paving,  waterworks  and  various  municipal 
undertakings,  of  city  and  country,  had  already  been  supplied. 
Here,  they  must  be  furnished  while  the  people  were  in  the 
act  of  settlement.  Countless  millions  were  so  expended,  and 
often  by  the  help  of  loans  from  outside  capitalists,  for  which 
they  paid  high  interest.  It  was  not,  therefore,  only  its  own 
people  that  were  enriched.  The  gain  in  personal  property 
and  real  estate,  since  1850,  was  made,  by  the  census  of  1860, 
to  stand  at  $2,500,000,000.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  actual 
production  of  wealth  invested  in  various  ways,  within  and 
without  the  Valley,  not  here  included,  would  add  one  thou- 
sand million  dollars  more  to  this  sum.  In  1850  it  had  taken 
seventy-five  years  to  accumulate  property  worth  $.3,100,000,- 
000  in  the  Valley,  and  it  was  nearly  doubled  between  that 
year  and  1860. 

It  seems  a  marvelous  tale  to  tell;  yet  this  was  small  com- 
pared with  gains  at  a  later  period.  All  this  was  but  lajnng 
foundations.  Only  a  part  of  the  resources  lying  near  the  sur- 
face had  been  gathered.  They  still  lay  on  the  surface,  offer- 
ing themselves  to  the  first  comer,  in  inexhaustible  profusion; 
and  beneath  the  surface,  to  be  sought  by  practiced  skill,  there 
was  a  bottomless  ocean  of  material  for  wealth. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE    VALLEY    IN    1860. 


It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  a  people  and  a  region  could  have 
been  better  fitted  to  each  other  tlian  these  Anglo-Americans, 
with  an  infusion  of  industrious  Europeans,  and  the  Missis- 
sippi Valle}'.  The  long  Geological  Ages  had  given  it  the 
precise  form  and  outlets  to  be  desired.  By  the  help  of  facil- 
ities for  communication  with  the  Atlantic  and  Europe  the 
right  stimulus  was  given  at  the  right  time;  by  its  barriers 
against  ingress  and  egress  in  the  early  days  a  degree  of  iso- 
lation and  discipline  was  possible,  through  a  period  suffi- 
ciently long  to  make  a  permanent  impression,  of  the  most 
desirable  kind,  on  the  character  of  the  race  which  was  to  pos- 
sess aTid  rule  it.  Vegetable  life  had  helped  to  store  it  with 
iron,  with  petroleuni  and  coal,  and  gathered  the  richest  surface 
mould ;  animal  life  had  aided  in  various  ways  to  strengthen 
its  soil  and  furnish  it  with  suitable  qualities  of  rock  for  all  its 
general  purposes.  Fire  and  water,  expansion  and  contraction, 
ocean  and  lake  and  marsh,  sun  and  winds  and  rain,  were  all 
controlled  so  as  to  do  their  work  for  the  great  advantage  of  this 
favored  region.  The  history  of  Mound  Builders,  Indians,  and 
Exiropean  nations  in  their  enterprises  in  the  New  World,  had 
all  been  guided  so  that  the  right  people  should  find  no  invin- 
cible difficulties  in  taking  possession  of  its  virgin  treasures. 

So,  also,  Anglo-American  history  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the 
Alleghanies  had  reached  the  most  favorable  point  when  the 
theatre  of  significant  events  was  extended  westward  ;  the 
ambitions  of  France,  Spain  and  England,  and  the  schemes  of 
Aaron  Burr  failed;  the  necessities  of  France  and  the  foresitrht 
of  Napoleon  united  every  slope  of  the  Valley  politically  as  the 
Mississippi  united  them  naturally.     At  the  critical  time  the 

367 


368  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

steamboat  was  invented  for  its  waters,  and  again  the  railroad 
for  its  plains  and  prairies,  and  the  markets  of  England  were 
thrown  open  by  free  trade  just  when  the  Valley  was  ready  to 
fill  them  with  its  produce.  Thus,  all  the  seeming  accidents 
that  played  an  important  part  in  its  history  tell  a  tale  of  fore- 
sight and  supervision — -were  made  determining  influences  to 
accumulate  and  preserve  a  vast  mass  of  material  to  be  yielded 
np  to  those  who  would  use  it  wisely,  at  the  right  moment  to 
give  an  immense  impulse  to  the  progress  of  civilization. 

Hardy,  bold  and  ready  for  conflict  and  deprivation  as  only 
the  rude  backwoodsman  can  be;  intelligent,  industrious  and 
attached  to  legal  order  as  Anglo-Saxons  naturally  are;  the 
adventurous,  untaught  and  poor  pioneers  faced  the  forest,  the 
red  hunter  and  the  hardships  of  an  interior  settlement  witli- 
out  shrinking  and  conducted  themselves  with  singular  pru- 
dence. The  chief  difficulties  surmounted,  independent,  un- 
curbed by  arbitrary  power  or  by  education,  the  bold  boister- 
ousness  of  their  young  men  seemed  likely  to  reduce  society 
to  chaos.  Nothing  of  that  kind  occurred.  It  was  the  flush 
of  buoyant  health,  of  overflowing  vigor  and  the  consciousness 
of  capability,  rather  than  the  license  of  vice.  It  settled  into 
Iiighly  civilized  and  polished  ambition  when  once  the  idea 
was  Caught  and  the  opening  apjteared.  It  was  tlie  rough- 
ness of  the  uncut  diamond  which  intercourse  with  men  soon 
rubbed  down,  revealing  the  rare  quality  beneath. 

This  people,  with  hints,  suggestions  and  example  alone  from 
the  other  side  of  the  mountains,  formed  their  own  institutions, 
selected  their  own  laws  and  officers,  legislated  for  themselves 
and  became  responsible  for  the  prevalence  of  liberty  and  law. 
They  made  many  a  mistake  in  questions  of  detail,  but  none 
in  constitutional  principles.  The  mistakes  they  well  knew 
how  to  remedy.  The  result  was  security  to  property,  with 
the  healthiest  freedom  of  action  ;  general  morality,  without 
painful  constraint.  This  wise  moileration  and  good  order 
highly  favored   the   influx   of   people  and   of  money.     The 


FINANCIAL    AXD    SOCIAL    DANGERS    AVOIDED.  369 

quiet  and  intelligent  eoiild  come  without  fear  and  invest- 
ments Could  be  made  with  coutidence.  Every  possible  barrier 
to  the  truest  progress  was  thrown  down;  every  possible  en- 
couragement to  active  enterprise  was  given.  With  such  a 
prudent  policy.  Eastern  and  European  capital  stood  ready  to 
aid  all  useful  undertakings.  It  was  only  necessar}'  to  show 
that  they  would  pay  by  a  speedy  de\"elopnient.  The  greatest 
trouble  was  not  too  little  confidence,  too  short  a  credit,  but 
t«o  much.  Xot  too  much  trust  in  jnen.  but  in  the  rush  of 
business.  If  development  go  fast  in  one  direction  it  may 
outrun  the  progress  made  in  others.  An  army  must  move 
together  ;  its  divisions  must  be  in  supporting  distance. 
The  divisions  of  industrial  progress  did  not  all  move  with 
equal  step  in  the  Valley,  at  times,  and  disorder  sometimes 
appeared  in  the  finances.  But  this  was  only  temporary.  A 
little  time  for  the  laggard  branches  to  come  up,  a  careful 
revision  of  past  policy,  and  the  race  commenced  anew. 

The  political  history  of  the  States  was  singularly  free  from 
resistance  to  constituted  authority.  A  single  case  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  of  rebellion  against  a  tax  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, occurred  during  the  administration  of  Washington 
in  1792.  The  Government  was  firm  and  opposition  disap- 
]>eared.  Yet  men  were  self-seeking  and  ambitious — there  was 
more  liberty  to  be  so  here  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world — 
every  man  had  a  recognized  right  to  his  opinion  and  to  advo- 
cate it;  every  man  was  free  to  act,  so  he  did  not  violate  the 
law.  There  often  ap]3eared  to  be  much  turbulence  ;  party 
spirit  ran  high  and  self-seeking  did  not  always  regard  public 
or  individual  good.  Every  period  had  its  peculiar  troubles 
and  fears  ;  each  party  was  sure  the  other  would  ruin  the 
State  or  country  ;  there  were  always  examples  enough 
of  roguery,  of  crime,  of  artful  maneuvering  for  illegal 
advantages,  of  stratagems  to  acquire  place  and  power,  to  fill 
the  timid  and  shortsighted  with  apprehension  for  the  future. 
That  future  showed  that  those  fears  were  gratuitous.  The 
'  84 


370  TUE    MISSISSIPPI    VAILET. 

main  facts  were  most  lionorable  to  the  people,  the  parties  and 
the  multitude  of  individuals.  Evils  truly  threatened  van- 
ished, not  by  main  force,  nor  so  much  by  excess  of  general 
purity,  as  by  the  law  of  interest. 

Society  is  a  body,  as  fully  organized  by  natural  relationships 
and  laws  as  a  human  body.  It  has  vital  forces,  like  any  other 
organized  body,  and  its  health  can  be  secured  best  by  an  unre- 
stricted operation  of  these  forces  ;  too  much  government 
coddling  interferes  with  them  ;  there  was  the  minimum  of 
government  here;  they  had  nowhere,  in  any  place  or  time, 
operated  so  fully  as  in  the  Valley.  The  result  was  health 
and  soundness.  The  vigor  of  life  subdued  and  expelled  dis- 
order; a  tendency  to  equilibrium — to  justice  and  respect  for 
public  and  personal  right — asserted  itself.  That  is  a  point  of 
great  importance  ;  it  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  safe  and 
rapid  progress  of  American  institutions. 

Under  all  these  favoring  circumstances,  by  dint  of  an  active, 
natural,  healthy  life — a  life  full  of  labor,  where  all  were 
thrown  on  their  own  resources,  and  no  system  of  organized 
favoritism  helped  one  and  oppressed  another — progress  was 
great  to  an  unheard  of  degree.  Almost  every  feature  of  the 
history  of  this  region — the  northern  Valley  especially — was 
so  favorable,  so  rich  in  solid  results,  that  it  might  seem  almost 
as  if  the  people  ought  to  be  spoiled  by  their  own  success. 
But  life  was  too  healthy  and  busy  for  that.  It  is  the  idle 
who  are  most  likely  to  be  demoralized  by  wealth. 

There  was,  however,  in  1S60,  a  dark  reverse  to  this  bright 
side.  It  had  gradually  been  taking  form  and  consistence 
from  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  The  labor  systems  of 
.the  North  and  South  were  in  violent  contrast,  in  some  respects, 
and  constantly  tended  to  the  disadvantage  of  each.  The  in- 
dustrial difference  was  irreconcilable.  The  interest  of  the 
upper  Valley  required  the  full  development  of  the  lower  ; 
that  it  should  be  tilled  with  a  population  such  as  naturally 
belonged  with  its  great  and  various  resources.     As  it  was, 


THE    REVERSE   o9  A    BRIGHT    PICTURE.  371 

there  were  a  few  lines  of  development  only  ;  the  results 
tended  to  accumulate  in  few  hands;  white  labor  was  practi- 
cally excluded  and  black  labor  did  not  open  much  market. 
In  large  part  it  was  as  if  the  southern  Valley  had  been  want- 
ing, and  the  northern  basin  would  have  been,  perhaps,  better 
oiF  had  it  been  really  absent  if  the  facilities  of  ocean  com- 
merce could  have  been  put  in  place  of  the  comparatively  small 
trade  carried  on  between  the  sections.  The  world  could  not 
well  do  Adthout  the  cotton;  but  it  might  be  raised  elsewhere, 
and  only  a  small  part  of  it  benefitted  the  free  States. 

The  Xorth  put  a  moral  objection  foremost,  but  much  of  its 
political  strength  lay  in  the  industrial  objection.  The  South 
grew  irritated  and  indignant,  felt  injured  and  persecuted,  and 
bitter  feeling  produced  added  evils.  A  sharp  struggle  was 
commenced  on  the  embodiment  of  northern  objection  to 
slavery  in  a  political  party.  It  did  not  demand  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery — it  sought  only  to  prevent  its  extension — but 
the  desire  to  remove  it  lay  at  the  bottom,  and  Its  extension 
was  the  only  security  for  the  South  of  retaining  an  equal 
influence  over  federal  treatment  of  it.  It  drove  the  sections 
apart  on  a  conventional  line,  more  and  more  interrupted  har- 
mony, and  threatened  great  evils  to  the  "West.  Limits  were 
set  to  its  expansion  when  it  was  in  full  career;  it  might  be  cut 
off  from  the  Gulf  and  the  use  of  the  river,  its  most  natural 
outlet,  and,  at  the  very  least,  an  artificial  division  would  em- 
barrass growth. 

As  it  was  a  matter  of  feeling  in  favor  of  an  institution 
interwoven  with  all  their  social  as  well  as  industrial  habits, 
the  lately  increased  facilities  of  intercourse  by  railroads  could 
not  overcome  the  difiiculty  any  more  than  the  interest  con- 
nected with  the  river  system  could  do  it.  Rather,  the  closer 
they  were  drawn  together  by  outward  forces,  the  farther  apart 
they  drifted  in  antagonism. 

The  railroad  system  had,  in  large  part,  monopolized  the 
carrying  trade  because  it  was  speedy  and  the  principal  markets 


372  THE   MISSISSIM"!    VALLEY. 

of  the  free  States  lay  directly  east  of  them.  The  binding  influ- 
ence of  the  river  was  much  diminished  when  another  adequate 
substitute,  which  might  answer  all  purposes  for  a  long  time, 
was  provided.  It  seemed  as  if  the  South  must  suffer  most;  yet 
she  lay  on  the  Gulf  and  the  ocean,  and  supplied  most  of  the 
world's  cotton.  The  political  difficulty  was  increased  hy  the 
superiority  of  the  free  and  more  populous  North  in  filling 
vacant  territory  with  settlers  in  a  short  time.  A  final 
struggle  in  Kansas  tested  this  point,  turned  in  favor  of  that 
section,  and  hastened  the  determination  of  the  South  to 
separate.  This  conclusion  was  a  sad  interruption  to  a  great 
career.  Both  sections  had  worked  out  beginnings  and  were 
ready  to  reap  what  they  had  sown  when  called  away  from 
labor  by  the  tocsin  of  war. 

The  means  that  had  contributed  in  such  a  high  degree  to 
the  wonderful  development  of  the  Valley,  that  had  seemed  to" 
join  the  sections  indissolubly,  became  the  most  efficient  aids 
to  rival  armies.  The  telegraph,  which  had  so  expedited  busi- 
ness, now  conveyed  military  orders  from,  and  information  to, 
every  important  point.  The  work  of  months,  by  telegraph, 
river  and  rail,  could  be  compressed  into  days.  Armies  con- 
centrated by  railroad  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  and  their 
movements  could  usually  be  followed  by  long  trains  contain- 
ing their  baggage  and  supplies  for  support  and  defence  or  for 
aggression.  The  steamboat  was  equally  useful,  for,  if  it  could 
not  go  everywhere,  it  could  reach  numerous  important  points, 
be  made  a  floating  battery  besides,  and  become  a  powerful 
engine  of  war. 

Both  railroads  and  steamboats  added  to  the  magnitude  and 
destructiveness  of  the  conflict.  Larger  armies  could  be  gath- 
ered, fed  and  rapidly  moved  from  point  to  point;  destructive 
engines  of  war  of  great  weight  could  be  quickly  moved.  But, 
inasmuch  as  the  South  stood  chiefly  on  the  defensive,  these 
agencies  were  more  harmful  to  her.  Her  coasts  and  rivers 
could  be  attacked  by  powerful  shipping,  and  railroads  took 


EFFECT    OF    RIVERS    AND    RAILROADS    ON    THE   WAR.         373 

vast  armies  far  into  lier  borders,  while  the  greater  freedom  and 
productive  activity  of  her  antagonist  reaped  vast  advantage 
from  tlie  railway  system  that  condiicted  the  business  of  the 
North  without  hindrance,  and  kept  up  supplies  of  men  and 
stores  for  the  attack.  But  for  these,  possibly,  she  might  have 
succeeded  in  breaking  away,  permanently,  from  the  bonds 
that  had  been  so  useful  and  dear  but  now  were  so  hateful. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   CONFLICT    A^^)    ITS    LESSONS. 

The  civil  war  was  caused  by  a  conflict  of  labor  systems. 
The  disapproval  of  the  southern  system  in  the  free  States  was 
based  on  moral  and  economic  grounds  and  on  its  inconsistency 
with  the  theories  of  democratic  equality,  on  which  American 
institutions  were  held  to  be  founded.  The  resistance  in  the 
South  was  founded  on  the  great  difference  between  the  white 
and  colored  races,  which,  in  the  belief  of  the  southern  people,  • 
met  the  moral  and  democratic  objections;  on  the  relations 
which  their  labor  system  sustained  to  all  their  industrial  and 
financial  interests  and  to  their  social  organization;  and  on 
their  absolute  right  to  undisturbed  control  of  a  local  insti- 
tution which  had  been  recognized  in  the  formation  of  the 
Republic. 

The  conflict  broke  out  on  the  question  of  the  extension  of 
that  sj'stem.  The  South  required  its  enlargement  to  main- 
tain political  equilibrium;  the  North  refused  to  consent.  The 
exact  legal  status  of  the  question  was  violently  disputed;  the 
forces  behind  such  questions  permitted  no  common  under- 
standing and  the  South  determined  on  separation.  The  free 
States  were  in  jxjssession  of  the  Federal  Government  and 
refused  to  permit  it.  The  sword  alone  could  decide  the  ques- 
tion. The  North  considered  it  impossible  to  abandon  either 
the  fundamental  principle  of  democratic  liberty  or  the  Union 
on  which  general  prosperity  depended.  The  South  saw  all  its 
interests  and  its  own  personal  liberties  involved.  Such  was 
the  Gordian  knot  of  difiiculty  to  be  cut  by  war. 

After  the  presidential  election  of  November,  1860,  South 
Carolina  commenced  preparations  for  leaving  the  Union. 
In  February,  the  new  confederacy  was  provisionally  organized 

374 


THE    COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    CONFLICT.  375 

at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  which  then  included  only  the  more 
Southern  states  from  Texas  to  the  Carolinas.  Virginia,  Ten- 
nessee and  Arkansas  were  slower  in  their  action,  but  decided 
in  May  to  join  their  fortunes  to  the  Confederate  States. 
West  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Missouri  were  divided  in 
opinion.  The  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  a  Fedei-al 
fortress  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  April, 
1861,  opened  the  military  conflict  and  "  let  loose  the  dogs  of 
■war." 

From  that  time  preparation  was  diligently  made  on  each 
side,  though  nearly  ten  months  elapsed  before  anything  more 
than  preliminary  trials  of  strength  occurred.  The  severest 
engagements  were  skirmishing  compared  to  the  serious  work 
that  followed.  Indeed,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  citizens 
should  become  skillful  in  war  without  an  introductory  train- 
ing and  discipline.  The  battle  of  Bull  Run,  the  campaign  in 
West  Virginia,  the  many  fights  in  Missouri,  and  the  few  that 
preceded  the  advance  of  the  Federal  army  under  Grant  on 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  in  Kentucky,  were  all  of  that 
character.  They  were  the  first  essays  of  citizens  in  arms  who 
were  learning  to  be  soldiei's.  There  was  too  much  serious- 
ness and  resolution  behind  these,  sometimes  awkward  and 
uncertain,  essays  in  war  not  to  make  them  extremely  useful 
lessons.    There  was  good  material  for  soldiers  on  each  side. 

The  active  and  decisive  parts  of  the  great  conflict  took 
place  in  the  Valley,  because  its  result  depended  on  the  posses- 
sion of  that  fountain  of  resources.  If  the  central  artery'  of 
the  Valley  could  be  held  by  the  South  and  its  lower  Valley 
defended,  the  armies  in  Virginia  would  not  be  able  to  decide 
the  issue.  In  this  view  the  taking  of  Vicksburg  was  a 
much  more  important  event  than  the  battle  of  Gettysbui-g, 
which  sent  Lee  back  to  Virginia,  for  it  opened  the  whole 
length  of  the  great  river  to  Federal  use  ;  and  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga,  with  the  subsequent  series  of  Uattles  ending 
■with  the  capture  of  Atlanta  and  the  dispersion  of  the  great 


376  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Southern  army  in  the  Valley,  had  more  effect  on  the  result 
than  the  campaign  in  the  Wilderness  which  drove  General 
Lee  from  the  Rapidan  to  Petersburg.  Whatever  the  com- 
parative size  of  the  armies  or  the  force  and  skill  employed, 
it  was  necessary  for  the  winning  side  to  hold  the  Valley.  It 
furnished  the  strength  and  resources  indispensable  to  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  conflict  by  the  South. 

While  the  North  was  gathering  and  training  its  vast  armies, 
the  South  hastened  to  occupy  the  frontiers  of  its  wide  field. 
A  confused  conflict  raged  from  Kansas  to  the  Potomac  throutjh 
the  border  States.  The  Confederate  forces  occupied  West 
Virginia,  though  not  in  sufficient  strength  to  hold  the  line  of 
the  Ohio.  Kentucky  endeavored  to  remain  neutral,  but  many 
of  her  citizens  organized  both  for  the  North  and  the  South. 
Federal  forces  gathered  along  the  Ohio,  while  the  Confederate 
armies  occupied  posts  on  the  Mississippi  River  in  the  State, 
and  their  lines  extended  across  the  lower  part  of  the  State 
from  Columbus  to  the  mountains,  the  three  points  of 
advance  from  Tennessee  being  along  the  Mississippi,  from 
Nashville,  and  from  East  Tennessee  through  the  mountains. 
The  active  work  began  in  West  Virginia,  whicii,  by  the  middle 
of  July,  was  fairly  in  the  hands  of  the  Federal  troops.  A 
widespread  conflict  continued  all  the  summer  in  Missouri,  no 
less  than  sixty  battles  and  skirmishes  jiaving  occurred  up  to  the 
close  of  the  year.  The  general  result,  though  not  very  sharply 
defined,  was  in  favor  of  the  Federal  forces.  There  was  less  con- 
fusion and  more  of  careful  preparation  in  Kentucky,  where 
the  two  armies  did  not  hasten  so  much  toward  a  trial  of 
strength.  This  was  regarded  as  the  key  of  the  situation,  and 
a  careful  plan  of  Federal  operations  was  not  mature  before 
midwinter. 

The  first  project  of  invasion  in  the  Valley,  entertained  by 
the  Federal  authorities,  was  tliat  of  sending  an  ex})edition  on 
gunboats  down  the  Mississippi  to  capture  and  hold  comniaiiu 
ing  ])ositioiis  on  its  banks,  niiike  them  the  basis  of  future  expe 


MILITARY    STRATEGY    AND    RAILROADS.  377 

ditions  into  the  interior,  and  isolate  the  western  portion  of  the 
Confederacy.  This  was  found  to  be  a  difficult  matter,  if  not 
impossible,  and  a  different  strategy  was  soon  devised — that  of 
flanking  and  forcing  the  evacuation  of  these  river  fortresses  by 
operations  in  the  interior  at  their  rear.  In  this  plan  the 
Cumberland  and  Tennessee  Kivers  played  an  important  ])art, 
and  the  great  features  of  the  railway  system  of  the  southern 
Valley  east  of  the  Mississippi  entered  into  it  as  a  large  factor. 
It  played  an  important  part  in  the  years  that  followed,  to  the 
ffreat  advantage  of  the  Xorth  and  damage  of  the  South.  The 
lower  part  of  the  railroad  system  was  of  great  importance  to 
the  Confederacy  for  the  rapid  concentration  and  transfer  of 
forces,  and  transport  of  supplies  to  Virginia  and  the  border. 

From  Paducah,  on  the  Ohio,  below  Louisville,  a  continuous 
line  of  railway  ran  nearl}'  due  south  to  Mobile  and  New  Orleans. 
From  Memphis,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Tennessee  and  on 
the  Mississippi,  a  line  skirted  the  northern  border  of  the  States 
of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  to  Chattanooga,  in  East  Tennes- 
see, and  thence  northeast  between  the  parallel  ranges  of  the 
Alleghanies  to  the  tidewaters  of  the  Atlantic,  in  Virginia. 
This  line  was  intersected  at  Decatur,  Ala.,  and  Stevenson, 
Ga.,  from  the  north  by  a  road  from  Louisville,  which  passed 
through  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  where  a  branch  connected  with 
Memphis.  Chattanooga  was  connected  by  railway  through 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  with  the  Atlantic  seaboard  at  Charleston,  S.  C, 
and  Savannah,  Ga.,  and  with  the  Gulf  at  Pensacola,  Florida. 
Vicksburg,  a  strong  fortification  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, midway  between  Memphis  and  New  Orleans,  was 
ultimately  connected  by  railway  with  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and 
Atlanta. 

The  Confederate  lines  at  Bowling  Green  were  joined  with 
the  force  at  Columbus  by  the  intermediate  fortifications  of 
Fort  Henry,  on  the  Tennessee,  and  Fort  Donelson  on  the 
Cumberland.  Paducah  lies  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  on 
the  Ohio.     Forts  Henry  and  Donelson   formed  the  center  of 


378  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  Confederate  line,  which,  being  broken  there,  would  expose 
both  Bowling  Green  and  Columbus  to  an  attack  in  the  rear,  or 
their  communications  with  the  Confederacy  could  be  easily 
severed. 

This  plan  was  adopted  by  the  Federal  commanders  with 
success.  While  a  Federal  army  confronted  the  Confederate 
forces  at  Bowling  Green,  another,  supported  by  a  fleet  of  gun- 
boats, ascended  the  Tennessee  from  Paducah  and  captured 
Fort  Henry;  the  boats  returned  to  the  Ohio  and  ascended 
the  Cumberland  to  Fort  Donelson,  the  army  crossed  the 
short  distance  between  the  two  rivers  to  the  same  point,  and 
Donelson  also  fell.  The  Confederate  forces  at  Columbus  and 
Bowling  Green  were  obliged,  by  this  disaster,  to  withdraw 
without  a  struggle;  Middle  and  East  Tennessee  were  opened 
to  Federal  occupation,  and  the  Confederate  lines  were  re- 
formed south  of  the  Tennessee  River  on  the  northern  border  of 
Mississippi.  The  disadvantage  to  the  South  of  having  so 
large  a  territory  to  defend  with  inferior  forces  and  warlike 
material  was  apparent;  it  was,  in  fact,  decisive  of  the  whole 
struggle.  It  gave  too  much  advantage  to  their  opponents  in 
mental  warfare,  or  strategy.  In  a  smaller  field,  as  in  Vir- 
ginia, where  defensive  strategy  could  be  employed  to  make  up 
for  inferiority  of  numbers,  they  were  more  successful. 

The  Federal  armies  pressed  forward  against  the  new  Con- 
federate line.  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  had  fallen  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1862.  By  April  the  antagonists  confronted  each  other 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Tennessee  at  Shiloh,  or  Pittsburgh 
Landing.  Before  the  two  Federal  armies  had  concentrated 
the  Confederates  attacked  the  one  nearest,  at  Shiloh,  and  one 
of  the  most  desperate  and  characteristic  battles  of  the  war 
occurred.  It  was  of  extreme  importance  to  the  Confederacy 
to  hold  this  line,  for  the  Memphis  and  Chattanooga  Railroad 
lay  but  a  few  miles  to  the  south,  and  this  was  the  most  import- 
ant, shortest,  and,  at  that  time,  the  only  line  of  communication 
between  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  their  territory.     The 


OPERATIONS    IN    THE    EASTERN    ^'AI.LEY.  379 

• 

loss  of  it  might  be  fatal  to  them.  The  Southern  arnij,  about 
40,000  strong,  was  confronted  by  the  Federal  force  under 
General  Grant  with  33,000  men.  General  Buell,  commanding 
the  Federal  army  that  had  lain  between  Bowling  Green  and 
Louisville,  was  advancing  to  form  a  junction  with  Grant. 

This  would  give  tJie  TJnion  army  a  great  superiority  of 
numbers.  The  Confederate  army,  therefore,  made  a  furious 
attack  which  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  withstood  by 
troops,  in  large  part,  recently  recruited  and  undiscijjlined. 
But  the  shades  of  night  found  them  still  in  arms  and  reso- 
lutely refusing  to  acknowledge  defeat,  although  nearly  half 
their  number  had  been  disabled  or  killed.  In  the  evening 
the  army  of  General  Buell  began  to  arrive  and  another  day 
was  fought  through  with  a  great  increase  of  force  on  the  Fed- 
eral side.  The  Confederate  army  was  almost  annihilated,  but 
withdrew  so  bravely  that  its  shattered  and  helpless  condition 
was  not  suspected,  and  it  remained  a  long  time  intrenched 
within  a  few  miles,  its  defiant  attitude  conveying  an  impres- 
sion of  strength  which  it  did  not  possess. 

This  disaster  might,  perhaps,  have  been  rejiaired  had  not 
other  parts  of  the  field  diverted  so  much  of  the  attention  of 
the  Confederate  Government.  The  fortifications  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi below  Columbus  were  soon  taken.  Commodoi'e  Far- 
ragut  captured  New  Orleans  and  the  lower  defences  of  the 
river,  and  the  Federal  army,  under  McClellan,  was  threaten- 
ing Richmond,  Va.,  the  Confederate  capital.  The  Federal 
forces  also  gained  a  foothold  on  the  coast  of  North  and  South 
Carolina,  and  secured  Pensacola.  Only  Yicksburg  and  Port 
Hudson  held  the  two  parts  of  the  Confederacy  together. 

Under  such  a  cloud  of  misfortunes  the  South  might  well 
have  despaired.  It  did  not,  however.  McClellan  was  repulsed 
from  the  Peninsula  and  the  tide  of  war  again  rolled  up  toward 
Washington,  and  even  crossed  the  Potomac  into  Maryland  for 
a  time.  A  vigorous  effort  was  made  throughout  the  South; 
fresh  armies  were  organized,  and  a  bold  jnish   northward  was 


380  THE  mississh'pi  valley. 

made  from  East  Tennessee  as  well  as  from  Richmond.  Gen- 
eral Buel  was  proceeding  with  his  army  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Corinth  to  Chattanooga,  when  General  Bragg,  Con- 
federate commander,  suddenly  transferred  his  army  ahead  of 
him  across  Alabama  to  Chattanoogi\,  and  pushed  forward  into 
the  fairest  part  of  Kentucky,  and  toward  Louisville,  which  re- 
quired Buell  to  repair  to  that  point  for  its  protection.  After 
gathering  vast  and  various  supplies,  which  were  much  needed 
in  the  South,  General  Bragg  succeeded  in  conveying  them 
away  in  safety  and  in  withdrawing  his  army  without  a  great 
battle.  Although  disappointed  in  its  hope  of  holding  Ken- 
tucky and  carrying  the  war  into  the  North,  the  Soutli  was 
inspired  with  new  energy  by  such  successes  after  so  many 
great  reverses,  and  tenaciously  held  on  its  way. 

Corinth  and  Memphis  had  fallen  in  June,  principally  by 
retreat  after  resistance  became  hopeless,  and  the  most  impor- 
tant line  of  railway  joining  the  east  and  west  of  tlie  Confed- 
eracy, between  Memphis  and  Chattanooga,  had  passed  mostly 
into  Federal  hands  or  been  destroyed.  The  strong  fortifica- 
tions of  Vicksburff,  and  the  east  and  west  railwav  line  of  which 
it  was  the  terminus,  became  the  mainstay  and  hope  of  the  South. 
The  Yazoo  River  and  unfavorable  ground  protected  the  strong- 
hold in  the  rear,  and  for  more  than  a  3'ear  it  resisted  the  most 
desperate  efforts  of  the  Federal  generals.  By  the  invasion  of 
Kentucky  after  having  lost  both  that  State  and  most  of  Ten- 
nessee, the  South  barely  failed  of  recovering  nearly  all  it  had 
lost,  which  gave  it  a  glimpse  of  the  possibilities  of  war  from 
which  its  sturdy  courage  and  unbending  will  took  all  the  en- 
couragement it  wished. 

The  winter  found  it  still  in  possession  of  East  Tennessee  and 
the  railway  connections,  so  important  to  the  Confederacy,  at 
Chattanooga,  and  triumphantly  holding  Vicksburg.  A  long 
series  of  sti-ategic  movements  and  battles,  covering  much  of 
Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  parts  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi, 
had  occupied  the  summer  and  fall.     Arkansas  had  been  the 


THE    FEDEEAL    AND    CONFEDERATE   SOLDIKRS.  oSl 

theatre  of  incessant  conflict,  but  the  bulk  of  the  forces  had 
been  witlidrawn  by  both  sides  to  support  the  more  critical 
operations  in  the  eastern  Valley.  The  bravery  of  the  South- 
ern armies  had  covered  them  with  glory  and  required  an  equal 
valor  and  far  greater  resources  on  the  Federal  side  to  make 
head  against  them.  The  Confederate  soldier  was  often  iu  want 
of  almost  everything  but  the  most  indispensable  means  of 
fighting  and  keeping  life  in  his  worn,  overworked  and  under- 
fed body;  while  the  invasion  of  a  hostile  country,  the  vast 
masses  of  men  required  and  the  abundant  means  of  the  North, 
*  made  the  question  of  supplies  one  of  leading  importance  in 
the  strategy  and  operations  of  the  Federal  generals.  Com- 
pared with  the  Confederate,  the  Federal  soldier  may  almost  be 
said  to  have  fought  at  his  ease  and  in  comfort. 

By  December  1,  1862,  more  than  1,300,000  men  had  been 
put  in  the  field  by  the  North,  while,  it  is  aflSrmed,  the  South 
had  never  half  that  number  at  once  in  arms.  The  entire  num- 
ber of  diflferent  men  in  the  Southern  armies  during  the  whole 
war  is  stated  at  about  one  third  the  whole  number  of  its  an- 
tagonists. The  sacrifices  of  the  North  were  immense  and 
seemed  inconceivable,  but  the  devotion  of  the  South  to  a  con- 
stantly failing  caiise  was  not  less  honorable  to  its  spirit.  It 
is  true  that  there  were  many,  both  North  and  South,  who  did 
not  scruple  to  improve  the  opportunities  ofi'ered,  during  the 
confusion  of  war,  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  their 
government;  and  many,  in  the  South,  sought  to  avoid  a  per- 
sonal share  of  the  fighting  after  having  exerted  their  influence 
to  promote  the  desperate  collision;  yet,  as  a  whole,  the  South- 
ern people  were  disposed  to  sacrifice  everything  to  independ- 
ence, and  the  Northern  citizens  were  ready  to  assume  all 
the  burdens  required  to  preserve  the  Union. 

The  South  displayed  much  energy,  after  the  loss  of  the 
upper  and  lower  Mississippi,  of  the  central  Valley  and  of  most 
of  its  seaports,  by  the  advances  in  force  into  Maryland  and 
Kentucky.   The  North  thought  that  there  was  reason  enough 


382  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

for  the  Confederacy  to  hold  itself  fairly  beaten;  as  it  would 
not,  the  Federal  Grovernment  determined  to  subtract  the  slave 
element,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  support  of  tiie  Soutlh  The 
colored  race  liad  conducted  itself  with  much  discretion,  during 
the  conflict,  qi;ietly  going  its  laborious  way,  raising  no  insur- 
rections and  creating  no  disturbances  when  nearly  all  the  able 
bodied  whites  went  to  the  front.  They  labored  at  home, 
respected  the  families  and  interests  of  their  owners,  and  dis- 
played, generally,  their  usual  docility.  This  was  extremely 
fortunate  for  the  South,  which  could  thus  dispose  of  all  its 
military  force  for  active  warfare,  while  the  negroes  raised  the 
supplies  for  the  armies  and  were  employed  in  great  numbers 
wherever  fortifications  and  earthworks  were  to  be  raised. 

In  September,  1862,  it  was  proposed,  by  the  President,  U* 
emancipate  the  slaves  in  all  the  Confederate  States  on  the  1st 
January,  18G3,  which  was  actually  proclaimed  at  that  time. 
The  negroes  belonging  to  partisans  of  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment were,  tlierefore,  held  to  be  free  whenever  they  came 
within  the  Union  lines,  and  were  soon  enlisted  into  companies 
and  regiments  and  employed  more  or  less  in  army  operations, 
adding  considerable  strength  to  the  Federal  side.  This  move- 
ment gathered  force  and  breadth  as  it  proceeded.  Soon,  the 
blacks  of  the  border  States  were  invited  into  military  organi- 
zations, with  the  promise  of  freedom,  by  the  Genei-al  Govern- 
ment; the  freedom  of  their  families  followed,  to  be  succeeded 
by  the  final  sweeping  away  of  the  whole  system  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  soon 
after  the  close  of  the  war.  The  conduct  of  the  blacks  as 
soldiers  was  as  honorable  to  them  and  as  unexpected  to  the 
country  and  the  world  as  it  had  been  while  remaining  at  home 
to  raise  provisions  for  the  Confederate  troops.  This  modera- 
tion and  good  behavior  in  dangerous  crises  was  afterward 
rewarded,  as  a  reconstruction  measure,  by  giving  them  the 
full  privilege  of  citizenship — to  the  indignation  and  embarrass- 
ment of  the  South. 


W^ 


THE    GREAT    BATTLES    IN    TENNESSEE.  383 

During  the  autumn  of  1862,  and  after  the  retreat  of  the 
Southern  army  from  Kentucky,  General  Bragg,  its  com- 
mander, lay  in  Middle  Tennessee,  not  far  from  Nashville, 
facing  a  Federal  force  under  General  Rosecrans.  On  the  last 
day  of  the  year  these  two  armies  came  to  a  trial  of  strength  in 
the  desperate  and  bloody  battle  of  Murfreesborough,  or  Stone 
River,  in  which  the  general  advantage  was  on  the  Confed- 
erate side  during  nearly  the  whole  fight  of  three  days,  and 
victory  declared,  somewhat  indecisively,  for  the  Federals  only 
at  the  last  moment.  The  Union  array  and  its  leaders  reso- 
lutely refused  to  consider  themselves  beaten  when  that  ap- 
peared actually  the  case  and  held  their  ground,  to  be  justified 
in  the  end.  It  had  the  larger  number,  but  more  of  them  had 
no  previous  experience  in  their  deadly  trade.  Both  parties 
remained,  through  the  winter,  in  the  same  region,  defiantly 
facing  each  other,  but,  on  the  return  of  weather  suitable  fur 
military  operations,  Bragg  withdrew  to,  and  through,  Chatta- 
nooga, and  the  battle  of  Cliickamanga,  near  that  place,  at  the 
end  of  summer  (September  19  and  20),  resulted  in  the  defeat 
or  serious  check,  of  Rosecrans,  although  Bragg  was  not  able 
to  recover  Chattanooga.  The  conflict  continued  during  the 
winter  in  Virginia  and  in  Mississippi,  with  varying  results, 
the  Confederate  forces,  on  the  whole,  maintaining  the  most 
important  points,  frequently  gaining  considerable  advantages, 
which  thev  were  not  strong  enough  to  hold  with  their  dimin- 
ishing  resources  and  the  inexhaustible  supplies  of  the  Federal 
Government. 

The  great  abilities  and  superior  armies  of  Grant,  Sherman 
and  others  at  length  triumphed  at  Vicksburg,  July  4,  1803, 
and  the  whole  river  was  soon  after  opened  to  Federal  use. 
The  conqueror  of  Vicksburg,  with  a  considerable  part  i)f 
his  army,  was,  in  the  autumn,  transferred  to  Chattanooga. 
where,  in  November,  another  great  battle  was  fought,  result- 
ing in  favor  of  the  Federal  forces.  But,  although  the  inevit- 
able end  seemed  apparent  enough  to  the  North,  the  South. 


384  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

with  the  most  genuine  Anglo-Saxon  grit,  would  not  see  it. 
The  Southwest,  away  from  the  Mississippi,  was  mostly  un- 
touched, as  yet,  by  invasion,  and  the  Atlantic  coast  was  still 
joined  to  the  Valley  by  lines  of  railway  skirting  the  eastern 
and  southern  base  of  the  Alleghanies.  She  hoped,  to  the  last, 
to  recover  her  lost  ground,  and,  in  some  wa}',  to  thrust  back 
the  powerful  invasion. 

The  larger  features  of  the  war  were  more  concentrated  dur- 
ing 1864.  At  least  the  antasronists  had  been  schooled  bv  the 
three  years' conflict,  and  all  the  desperate  valor  of  a  noble  race 
was  developed  by  an  opponent  worthy  of  its  steel.  It  required 
a  whole  campaign  for  Sherman  to  drive  the  army  that  had 
been  beaten  at  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  in  Georgia,  and 
Grant  had  not  conquered  Lee,  in  Virginia,  when  he  reached 
the  neighborhood  of  Richmond.  Hood,  in  command  of  the 
Southern  army,  which  had  disputed  every  step  of  the  advance 
from  Nashville  to  Atlanta,  in  November  of  this  year  (1864), 
suddenly  turned  back  to  the  starting  point.  But  the  supe- 
riority of  the  Federal  armies  enabled  Sherman  to  pursue  his 
special  plans  and  still  detach  an  adequate  force  for  the  protec- 
tion of  Tennessee,  and  Hood  was  completely  defeated  before 
he  had  inflicted  serious  losses  in  that  region. 

During  all  this  year,  while  the  bulk  of  the  armies  were  test- 
ing their  mutual  strength  in  Virginia  and  Georgia,  under 
Grant  and  Sherman,  Lee,  Bragg,  Johnston  and  Hood,  a  minor 
series  of  conflicts  was  carried  on  over  almost  the  whole  of  the 
Southern  States,  both  within  the  Federal  and  Confederate  lines, 
by  detached  parties,  or  small  armies,  moving  with  great  rapid- 
ity. General  Price  invaded  Missouri,  General  Banks  led  a 
Federal  expedition  up  the  Red  River,  in  Louisiana.  These 
were  both  unsuccessful.  Mobile  was  captured  and  various 
Federal  successes  occurred  along  the  Gulf  and  Atlantic  coasts. 
Federal  raids,  or  detached  operations,  into  the  Southern  inte- 
rior were  answered  by  similar  movements  of  small  Confeder- 
ate forces  into  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 


THE    LOSS    OF    THE    VALLEY    DECinES    THE    WAE.  385 

Washington  itself  was  threatened  by  the  Confederate  Gen- 
eral Early,  and  a  desperate  conflict  between  him  and  Sheridan 
was  afterward  carried  on  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  in  Vir- 
ginia, resulting  in  the  detinite  defeat  of  Early.  Federal  power 
was,  on  the  whole,  overwhelming,  and  only  a  gallantry  that 
took  little  account  of  odds  until  it  had  fairly  exhausted  itself 
could  have  carried  the  conflict  through  so  many  campaigns. 
During  the  winter  of  1864-5  General  Sherman — after  des- 
troying the  shops  and  material  for  warlike  supjilies,  which 
ha^  made  Atlanta  the  most  important  town  in  the  Confeder- 
acy— sent  a  suflicient  force  back  to  Tennessee  to  confront  Gen- 
eral Hood,  removed  his  hospitals  and  extra  stores  to  Chat- 
tanooga, and  left  Atlanta  with  a  strong  army,  and  marched 
through  the  lieartof  the  Confederacy,  250  miles,  upon  Savan- 
nah, which  had  defended  itself  against  all  Federal  attacks  from 
the  sea.  His  route  led  him  across  all  the  lines  of  communi- 
cation by  which  supplies  from  the  Valley  could  yet  reach  the 
armies  in  Virginia;  his  large  army  of  well-trained  veterans 
was  hopelessly  superior  to  any  obstructions  which  could  be 
thrown  in  his  way  by  the  South  on  short  notice,  and  his 
destruction  of  public  stores  and  railways  was  an  irreparable 
disaster  for  it.  Reaching  Savannah  from  the  rear  he  easily 
captured  it,  andmarched  northeastward  above  Charleston,  now 
almost  in  ruins  from  a  long  Federal  bombardment,  but  which 
had  held  out  successfully  to  this  time.  ?Iis  operations  in 
its  rear  led  to  its  evacuation.  He  continued  north,  through 
the  center  of  South  and  Isorth  Carolina,  the  strength  of  his 
army,  and  the  co-operation  of  Federal  forces  gathered  on  the 
coast  at  various  points,  rendering  all  the  opposition  which  the 
Confederate  authorities  could  brine:  against  him  fruitless. 

With  all  the  important  lines  of  communication  in  the 
Valley  in  Federal  hands,  the  close  of  tlie  contest  on  the 
Atlantic  could  not  long  be  delayed.  Cut  oif  from  supplies 
and  recruits,  the  Confederate  array  daily  diminished,  while 
the  Federal  forces  were  ever  stronger  in  numbers  and  re- 
26 


386  TIIK    MlSSISSJI'l'l     rAI.LKV. 

soarces.  Tlie  conquest  of  the  Mississippi  and  of  the  railway 
lines  was  a  final  defeat.  The  structure  of  the  Valley  made 
the  union  of  the  States  and  sections  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Only  lines  of  deniarkation  which  had  grown  up,  like  those 
of  Europe,  from  difference  of  early  history — difference  of 
origin,  of  language  and  of  political  institutions — could  per- 
mit different  nationalities  to  form  on  the  Atlantic  slope  and 
in  the  Valley.  The  mountains  disappear  to  open  the  Valley 
on  the  north  and  on  the  south.  New  York,  Savannah  and 
New  Orleans  are  equally  essential  to  the  interior.  The  great 
enterprises  of  mijdern  life,  with  a  really  homogeneous  people 
occupying  both  the  interior  and  the  coast,  both  the  North  and 
the  South,  render  political  harmony,  such  as  can  only  be  found 
under  one  government,  absolutely  essential  to  the  welfare 
of  the  people.  A  real  union  once  consummated,  interest 
would  make  it  indissoluble.  The  Valley  is  ready  to  pour  out 
a  mighty  and  exhaustless  flood  of  wealth.  It  is  as  essential 
to  their  welfare  that  the  East  and  the  South  should  receive  it 
as  that  the  northern  and  central  Valley  should  send  it.  Com- 
mercial and  industrial  forces  are  the  strongest  now  in  opera- 
tion among  men;  they  are  irresistible. 

These  forces  required  the  union  of  the  whole  country  that 
they  might  reach  their  natural  expression  and  assume  their 
proper  magnitude.  In  the  resources  of  the  Valley  lay  the 
securities  for  the  stability  of  the  American  Union.  The 
common  origin  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  the  favorable 
reaction  of  the  Valley  on  their  character  and  the  direction  of 
their  development,  coincided  with  other  circumstances.  The 
people  were  one  and  their  interests  harmonious,  notwithstand- 
ing the  difference  of  labor  systems.  The  result — the  victory 
of  the  economic  labor  system  and  the  permanence  of  the 
Union — was  natural  and  inevitable. 


PART   THIRD. 

THE  NEW  ERA   IN   THE   VALLEY. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    SOUTHERN    VALLEY    AT    THE    CLOSE    OF    THE    WAR. 

The  North  had  made  great  sacrifices  to  maintain  the  integ- 
rity of  the  Union  so  far  as  that  could  be  done  by  force.  No 
men  or  money  had  been  spared ;  the  ranks  of  the  armies  had 
been  kept  full  as  needed  ;  a  system  of  extraordinary  taxation 
had  been  devised  and  accepted  by  the  people  and  a  vast  debt 
created.  The  burden  had  been  great ;  but,  for  the  time,  ex- 
traordinary expenditure  had  stimulated  every  branch  of  activ- 
ity and  production;  immigration  and  machinery  had  taken 
the  place  of  men  withdraven  to  the  armies,  and  there  was  great 
prosperity,  which  did  not  cease  for  many  years  after  the 
war. 

The  South  experienced  the  opposite  fortune.  With  the 
close  of  the  war  and  for  some  time  after,  its  misfortunes 
seemed  to  have  reached  a  climax.  During  the  war  all  the 
funds  obtainable  were  gathered  by  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment for  military  expenditure,  and  little  gold,  or  that 
which  could  be  turned  into  gold,  failed  to  be  sent  out  of  the 
country  to  secure  military  supplies.  For  the  most  part,  the 
cash  capital  of  the  people  had  been  in  the  banks  and  the 
Government  acquired  all  the  sound  values  deposited  in  them 
in  exchange  for  its  paper  money.  If  that  government  failed 
its  money  issues  would  be  worthless.  The  people  burned  their 
ships  behind  them  and  staked  all  on  success. 

387 


388  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

That  success  eluded  them;  the  Governiiient  dissolved  with- 
out a  snccessdr,  and  as  to  cash  resources  they  were  ruined. 
The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  had  endeavored  to  supplement 
the  efforts  of  the  Confederate  Government  in  tiie  support  of 
the  army  by  voluntary  aid,  and  still  further  reduced  their 
slender  resources.  Had  the  blacks  remained  in  servitude  the 
planters  could  have  recovered  prosperity  in  a  short  time  by 
resuming  forms  of  industry  with  which  thev  were  familiar. 
Much  of  their  former  property  had  been  invested  in  slaves. 
The  labor  they  owned  was  their  current  capital ;  some  two 
thousand  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars  had  been  so  invested ; 
it  disappeared  with  the  war.  Multitudes  of  the  large  plant- 
ers were  left  penniless  and  helpless  ;  tens  of  thousands  of 
widows  and  orphans,  whose  property  had  consisted  chiefly  of 
colored  servants,  were  destitute. 

For  four  years  war  had  desolated  their  lands  and  cities  and 
very  many  of  their  pleasant  homes;  it  had  struck  down  their 
viarorous  men  on  the  battlefield  or  returned  them  wounded  and 
broken  to  helpless  poverty,  throwing  their  families  into  the 
deepest  distress ;  there  were  no  pensions  to  sustain  the  wounded, 
to  smooth  their  way  to  health  or  the  grave,  nor  to  furnish  a 
pittance  to  the  dependent  women  and  children.  The  conquer- 
ing government  would  not,  indeed,  leave  them  to  starve  when 
their  cases  were  known  and  within  reach ;  but  such  dependence 
was  a  humiliation  they,  of  all  others,  found  it  hardest  to  bear. 
The  land  remained  and,  where  the  rush  of  war  had  not  swept, 
the  buildings  still  stood;  but  the  lands  were  of  little  value  in 
themselves  now,  tlie  houses  were  bare  and  decayed  from  the 
waste  of  war  or  free  contributions  of  comforts  to  the  soldiers 
during  years  of  blockade,  the  absence  of  the  master  or  loss  of 
income. 

The  loss  of  personal  property  in  slaves  was  at  least  $2,500, 
000,000.     The  expense  and  waste  of  war,  the  destruction  and 
deterioration  of  property  must  have  been  twice  as  much  more. 
Industrial  development  was  arrested  in  all  the  South  with  the 


THE    LOSSES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN    PEOPLE.  389 

opening  of  the  war  except  in  warlike  directions.  The  ground 
was  cultivated  for  the  necessary  supplies  of  food,  and  some 
cotton  still  raised  in  the  hope  of  getting  it  through  the  block- 
ade to  foreign  markets;  this  was,  in  general,  impossible,  and 
the  country  was  shut  in  from  the  world.  War  was  the  great 
fact  and  absorbed  most  of  the  energies  it  did  not  palsy  and 
the  resources  it  did  not  dry  up.  Everything  was  lost  that, 
with  an  Anglo-American  people,  it  was  possible  to  lose.  Their 
tenacious  bravery,  for  the  moat  part,  kept  the  desolations  of 
actual  conflict  to  the  great  strategic  lines  and  the  regions 
immediately  adjacent,  and  the  interiors  remained,  as  a  rule, 
undisturbed;  yet,  all  that  was  left  was  really  but  a  remnant. 
The  desolation  was  great.  The  diversion  and  loss  of  indus- 
trial and  business  energies  and  resources,  the  disorganization 
that  entered  into  every  field  of  ordinary  activity,  were  equiva- 
lent to  the  entire  loss  of  capital.  The  small  values  that  re- 
mained were  counterbalanced  by  a  loss  of  business  habits,  by 
mental  and  moral  depression,  and  the  want  of  hopefulness  that 
has  been  the  true  spring  of  American  progress. 

Besides  all  these  losses,  which  were  greater  than  could  easily 
be  conceived  in  the  North,  there  were  many  and  serious  em- 
barrassments to  a  return  of  prosperity.  Could  this  popula- 
tion have  been  placed  in  a  new  country  with  the  untamed  vigor, 
boldness  and  hope  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  Valley  the  dif- 
ficulties would  soon  have  been  mastered.  It  was  not  the  worst 
that  everything  was  virtually  lost,  that  the  weight  of  sorrow- 
ful memory  rested  upon  their  energies.  Tliere  is  a  vitality 
and  recuperative  force  inherent  in  the  race  that  would  soon 
restore  mental  and  physical  tone.  The  greatest  embarrass- 
ment lay  in  the  new  industrial  situation.  The  subject  and 
superior  races  stood  in  antagonism.  The  necessity  of  obedi- 
ence had  been  removed  from  the  first  before  the  mental  change 
that  alone  could  render  it  logical  and  healthy  had  been  obtained. 
It  was  impossible  that  the  colored  people  should  not  be  demor- 
alized, industrially,  by  a  liberty  so  suddenly  gained.     Servile 


390 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALI.KY. 


habits  could  not  be  immediately  changed  for  a  wise  self-control ; 
they  conld  but  be  transformed,  for  a  time,  into  license.  Lib- 
erty could  not  mean  to  tlieni  what  it  meant  to  the  intelligent 
white;  it  was,  for  the  ma.ss  of  them,  and  for  an  indefinite 
time,  liberty  to  be  idle,  liberty  to  be  absurdly  inconsequent 
and  changeable,  to  be  careless  of  the  future  and  to  obey  the 
fancies  of  the  moment. 

Thus,  there  was  an  inevitable  disorganization  of  any  labor 
system;  the  blacks  remained,  but  in  a  condition  singularly 
embarrassing  to  the  resumption  of  profitable  industry.  The 
impossibility  of  a  sudden  mental  revolution  among  the  whites, 
all  whose  habits  had  been  based  on  absolute  control  of  the 
laboring  class,  added  to  this  difficulty.  It  seemed  an  absurd 
situation.  Chaos  was  come  again.  The  mode  of  reconstruc- 
tion adopted  by  the  General  Go\'erninent  required  the  new 
prosperity  of  the  South,  however,  to  l)e  Ijuilt  uj)  in  harmony 
with  these  conditions.  The  Southern  people  had  no  power  of 
control;  they  could  not  restore  former  relations;  the  princi- 
ple of  equality  as  citizens  must  be  regai'ded. 

The  abolition  of  slavery  became  constitutional  by  the  Thir- 
teenth Amendment,  at  the  close  of  1805;  the  Civil  liights  Bill 
became  a  law  in  the  following  year;  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment went  into  operation  in  1868;  and  in  1870  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  conferred  the  elective  franchise,  or  right  to  vote, 
on  the  colored  people. 

The  Southern  people  must  begin  anew,  contrary  to  their 
habits,  to  their  judgment,  and,  as  they  were  situated  men- 
tally and  industrially,  to  their  interests.  They  were  dis- 
franchised for  the  time,  lest  they  should  exert  industrial  and 
political  control  and  interfere  with  this  transformation  of  the 
colored  race  from  servitude  to  citizenship.  So  great  a  change, 
on  so  large  a  scale  and  in  so  short  a  time,  had  never  before 
occurred  in  human  history.  It  had  been  believed  imjwssible. 
A  war  of  races  had  l)een  predicted.  It  had  not  been  thought 
that  there  lay  in  humanity  the  capacity  to  endure  a  change  so 


THE    DIFFICULT    FEATURES    OF    THE    SITUATION.  391 

vast  and  sudden  at  once.  All  history  and  logic  protested 
against  it;  but  the  Government  was  inexorable.  The  Southern 
people  submitted,  as  a  whole.  They  had  tiie  chief  miseries 
to  bear,  the  principal  sacrifices  to  make,  and  must  be  consid 
ered  as  having  done  high  honor  to  themselves,  to  the  Anglo- 
American  race  and  to  human  nature. 

The  most  disagreeable  features  of  the  situation  for  the 
Southern  whites  continued  from  seven  to  ten  years  in  the  dif- 
ferent States,  according  to  their  progress  in  political  ■'  Recon- 
struction." At  first  it  was  a  general  military  occupation, 
during  which  civil  government  was  gradually  organized  under 
the  supervision  of  intelligent  army  officers.  Their  sense  of 
justice  and  sympathy  for  misfortune  softened  s<tme  of  the 
liarsher  features  of  the  situation,  for  the  time.  As  soon  as  pos- 
sible, military  rule  ceased  and  local  government  was  conducted 
by  the  classes  considered  loyal  to  the  General  Government. 
These  included  a  small  minority  of  the  Southern  whites; 
Northern  people  newly  settled  in  the  South;  (officials  of  the 
General  Government;  and,  soon,  of  the  new  citizens  of  Afri- 
can descent. 

Ail  these  classes  had  interests  more  or  less  antagonistic  to 
those  of  the  great  body  of  the  Southern  whites  who  had 
formed  the  ruling  class  before,  and  during,  the  war.  The  true 
Southron  inevitably  felt  more  or  less  contempt,  aversion  and 
hostility  to  those  whom  he  regarded  as  the  usurpers  of 
his  rights.  Many  of  influence  among  these  new  rulers 
were  neither  very  wise  nor  very  virtuous,  and  sometimes  tlieir 
legislation  and  finance  were  really  an  outrage  on  the  general 
public.  Yet,  acting  under  Federal  and  Congressional  in- 
spiration, they  gave  the  necessary  new  cast  to  Southern  insti- 
tutions and  forms  of  government  by  the  adoption  and  inaugu- 
ration of  new  State  Constitutions.  The  colored  race  came 
into  power  under  the  guidance  of  Federal  officers,  of  the 
Freedman's  Bureau,  and  of  Northern  teachers  and  settlers. 

It  was  natural  that  many  unwise  things  should  be  done  by 


392 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


these  inexperienced  rulers  and  that  tlie  people  of  the  South 
should  feel  much  of  secret  sorrow,  shame  and  rage,  if  it  was 
not  openly  expressed.  In  general,  they  endured  what  could 
not  be  helped  in  silence  and  waited  for  better  days.  Some 
scenes  of  violence  occurred,  some  murders  were  committed, 
and  ill-feeling,  though  generally  suppressed  in  its  more  vio- 
lent forms,  rendered  all  parties  uncomfortable  and  apprehen- 
sive; yet,  on  the  whole,  the  Southern  people  endured  with 
very  commendable  patience  and  self-control.  It  was  the  most 
humiliating,  painful  and  difficult  period  for  them.  Yet  it 
soon  passed,  and  various  experiences  taught  them  that  there 
was  more  hope  for  them  in  their  own  land,  with  all  these 
miseries,  than  anywhere  else.  Some,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
believed  that  they  could  make  a  more  endurable  future  in 
Mexico,  South  America  and  other  foreign  lands  than  in  their 
desolated  and  ruined  country.  Some  years  of  experience, 
however,  showed  them  that  nothin<j  was  to  be  gained  and 
much  was  to  be  lost  by  these  self-expatriations,  and  no  general 
emigration  was  organized.  In  the  course  of  years  most  of 
these  emigrants  returned  and  accommodated  themselves  cheer- 
fully to  the  new  situation. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  and  tor  some  time  after,  these  dis- 
tressing features  of  the  situation  predominated.  Many  a 
matron,  accust<jmed  to  superintend  a  large  household  of  ser- 
vants, but  unfamiliar  witli  manual  lal)or,  was  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  caring  for  her  family  unaided.  To  unusual  toil 
was  added  tlie  unskillfulness  of  the  beginner,  adding  doubly 
to  the  physical  and  mental  strain.  Delicate  women,  accus- 
tomed to  atHuence,  and  tenderly  nurtured  children,  wei'e 
thrown,  by  thousands,  on  their  own  resources;  their  natural 
supporters  and  guardians  having  perished  on  the  field  of  bat- 
tle or  in  the  army  hospital,  leaving  no  income  behind  for  their 
support. 

Many  a  gentleman  born  to  wealth  and  ease  found  hinise If 
face  to  face  with   absolute  poverty,  without   habits  of  labor, 


/ 


STEKN    ENFORCKMENT    OF    KECONSTRUCTION.  393 

with  no  knowledge  of  a  profession  or  liandieraft  from  which  he 
might  draw  a  support  for  liiniself  and  his  family.  A  com- 
munity where  all  are  accustomed  to  take  an  active  part  in 
bearing  the  burdens  of  life,  where  personal  labor  is  the  rule, 
would  bear  these  losses  with  tolerable  equanimity.  At  least 
their  past  habits  would  be  an  aid,  and  not  a  bar,  to  recovery. 
It  was  impossible  for  the  people  of  the  North  to  realize  the 
extent  and  severity  of  such  a  weight  of  calamity  among  com- 
munities where  social  and  industrial  life  had  been  organized 
so  differently  from  their  own. 

The  Federal  Government  was  conducted  almost  exclusively 
by  the  North — at  least  the  great  majority  of  the  party  in 
power  were  from  the  free  States.  The  success  of  the  Federal 
armies  was,  to  them,  but  the  first  step  taken.  The  future  must 
be  secured.  They  had  presented  disunion;  they  must  now 
take  care  that  it  should  be  forever  impossible.  They  there- 
fore elaborated  a  plan  of  reconstruction  with  an  inflexibility 
that  could  not  but  seem  ruthlessness  to  the  impoverished  South 
— it  would  perhaps  have  seemed  so  to  themselves  could  they 
have  been  able  to  realize  fully  the  Southern  situation  in  detail. 
With  the  cessation  of  resistance  they  ceased  shedding  blood  and 
confiscating  property,  and  in  those  respects  showed  a  moder- 
ation not  often  recorded  in  history;  but  they  were  all  the  more 
unyielding  in  carrying  out  the  system  of  recon.^truction  tiiey 
had  adopted.  The  character  of  the  instruments  they  employed 
in  the  South,  and  the  brief  time  allowed  for  the  most  radical 
changes,  greatly  intensified  the  misfortunes  of  the  Southern 
people  for  the  first  few  years.  These,  however,  were  borne  so 
wisely  by  the  mass  of  Southern  whites,  and  they  accommo- 
dated themselves  so  soon  to  the  new  situations,  that  a  new  era 
of  hope  and  prosperity  soon  began  to  dawn  on  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CHANGES    IN    THE    SOUTFIEKN    VALLEY    AFTEK    THE    WAR. 

Institutions  truly  democratic  leave  a  very  large  liberty  to 
individual  activity,  which  often  apjsears,  in  formative  periods, 
to  threaten  anarchy.  There  seems  to  be  no  adequate  restraint 
to  ambition  and  passion,  and  irregularity,  disorder,  and  some- 
times violence,  become  the  predominating  features  on  the  sur- 
face of  society.  But  all  American  history  has  shown  that 
beneath  the  surface  were  conservative  elements  of  so  much 
vigor  that  only  a  short  time  was  required  for  them  to  master 
the  disorder,  and  that  they  could  do  this  more  naturally,  com- 
pletely and  in  a  shorter  time,  than  a  system  of  external  force. 

The  treatment  of  the  Southern  whites  was  now  in  strong 
contrast  with  the  theory  of  republican  equality  and  it  could 
be  maintained  only  as  a  temporary  measure.  The  principle 
was  as  odiuus  to  the  North  as  to  the  South,  and  was  designed 
to  be  abandoned  as  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  the  per- 
manence of  the  Union  was  no  longer  threatened.  A  large 
minority  in  Congress  unceasingly  protested  against  the  system 
of  reconstruction  adopted  by  the  majority  and  so  rigorously 
applied.  That  system  was  chiefly  embodied  in  the  three  Con- 
stitutional Amendments  securing  citizenship  and  its  rights  to 
the  colored  race,  and  when  these  were  definitely  accepted  by 
the  South  coercion  was  to  cease. 

In  actual  fact,  there  was  very  little  military  force  applied 
in  the  South  after  the  dispersion  of  the  Confederate  armies 
and  Government.  A  few  thousand  troops  were  scattered  over 
the  vast  territory  where,  at  first,  they  merely  did  police  duty 
and  acted  as  civil  agents  of  the  Federal  Government.  Soon 
they  were  withdrawn  from  all  but  the  most  prominent  central 
points,  where  the  smallness  of  their  numbers  made  them  lit- 

394 


EECONSTEUCTION    SUCCESSFULLY    BKGUN.  395 

tie  iiKjre  than  a  moral  force.  Self-control  had  lieoome  so 
habitual  to  the  American  that  no  occupation  "in  force"  was 
required  in  the  South — no  military  police  answering  to  tlie 
"  gensd'arnierie"  of  the  monarchial  governments  of  Europe. 
There  was  virtual  freedom  of  personal  movement,  and  ahsD- 
lute  freedom  from  espionage.  Notwithstanding  the  bloody 
war  and  the  deep  antagonism  of  principle  and  sentiment  still 
e.xistirig,  the  two  sections  understood  and  trusted  each  other 
to  a  degree  unparalleled  in  history.  Nominally,  there  was  a 
Federal  army  in  the  South  and  its  political  destiny  was  in  the 
hands  of  Congress.  Actually,  the  South  was  left  to  recon- 
struct itself,  provided  it  would  respect  the  three  new  Amend- 
ments. Political  disabilities  were  very  soon  removed  from 
the  mass  of  the  white  population.  They  generally  held  aloof 
from  political  action  where  they  must  see  the  institutions 
among  which  they  had  been  born  and  for  which  they  had 
fought  overthrown.  They,  in  general,  quietly  turned  away 
until  the  change  had  been  wrought  by  other  hands. 

There  were  scenes  of  violence,  of  bloodshed,  of  desperate 
revenge  on  the  new-made  citizens,  colored  office  holders  and 
Northern  teachers;  but  these  were  not  properly  the  acts  of  the 
Southern  peop^le.  They  were,  usually,  in  isolated  communi- 
ties largely  composed  of  the  rude  and  uncontrollable  classes 
of  society,  or  by  desperate  characters  who  improved  the  oppor- 
tunity to  commit  crime  under  the  shield  of  political  opposi- 
tion. These  acts  were  truly  disapproved  by  the  mass  of  the 
Southern  people. 

The  native  good  sense  of  that  people  soon  recognized  the 
wasteful  and  undesirable  character  of  the  slave-labor  system 
and  felt  it  to  have  been  a  mistake.  Irritation  at  the  elevation 
of  the  ignorant  black  to  citizenship  continued  longer,  but,  in 
the  course  of  years,  this  gave  way  so  far  as  to  permit  their 
general  return  tt)  the  political  field  of  action,  where  they  em- 
ployed their  diplomatic  abilities  in  the  effort  to  secure  the 
colored  vote  to  their  own  side. 


396  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Thus,  republican  habits  and  traditions  interposed  to  temper 
the  violence  of  the  changes  produced  by  the  war — to  mod- 
erate the  arrogance  of  the  conc^ueror,  and  preserve  a  large 
portion  ot"  freedom  to  the  conquered — from  the  first,  as  well 
as  to  moderate  the  conduct  of  those  who  had  lost  their  cause 
on  the  battle  field.  They  renounced  a  revenge  which  must 
be  futile,  and  more  injurious  to  themselves  than  to  any  one 
else,  and  soon  proceeded  with  vigor  to  the  w<:)rk  of  recon- 
structing their  fortunes  and  exerting  all  their  influence  on 
their  local  government.  The  way  was  prepared,  very  soon, 
for  a  much  better  political  situation  and.  gradually,  the  indus- 
trial and  financial  condition  of  the  South  was  ameliorated. 

The  colored  race  also  soon  began  to  illustrate  the  beneficial 
influence  of  personal  freedom.  The  moral  and  industrial 
vices  of  the  labor  system  of  the  South  so  long  held  the  atten- 
tion of  the  civilized  world,  and  especially  the  dominant  party 
in  the  Nortii  which  took  control  of  the  General  Government 
at  the  opening  of  the  war,  that  some  other  jjhases  of  the  case 
were  quite  overlooked.  It  was,  therefore,  a  matter  of  great 
surprise  to  the  country  when,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  conflict, 
during  its  whole  course  and  when  they  became  the  domi- 
nant political  force  in  the  South  after  it,  the  black  displayed 
a  singular  decree  of  mildness  and  moderation.  There  was 
no  frenzied  outbreak  <jf  savage  revenge  when  a  large  pai-t  of 
the  Southern  planters  and  the  flower  of  their  young  men 
hastened  to  the  armies,  leaving  the  weak  and  defenceless  in 
the  care  of  their  servants.  The  conduct  of  the  blacks  iu 
Hayti  and  Jamaica  on  their  attainment  of  freedom  was  not 
repeated.  The  three  or  four  million  slaves  in  the  Confederate 
States  calmly  waited  the  hour  when  they  should  be  legally 
freed,  in  the  meantime  doing  their  full  duty  to  the  lands  and 
families  of  their  master;,  left  in  their  care.  No  insurrec- 
tions, no  murders,  prejudiced  their  prospects.  It  was  not 
cowardice,  or  stolidit}',  that  kept  them  quiet.  They  generally 
understood  that  the  hour  of  their  freedom  was  approaching. 


THE    CHARACTER    OF    THE    COLORED    PEOPLE.  307 

and  when,  in  the  later  years  of  the  war,  they  were  mustered 
into  the  Federal  army  by  tens  of  thousands,  they  proved  good 
soldiers.  The  Southern  people  thenaselves  had  not  expected 
from  them  so  much  good  sense,  patience  in  waiting,  or  valor 
in  battle. 

These  blacks  had  for  ancestors,  but  a  few  generations  back, 
the  most  barbarous  and  detji'aded  of  the  neg-ro  tribes  of  Central 
Africa.  It  had  been  the  severest  charge  of  Christian  philan- 
thropists in  the  North  that  the  Southern  people  held  them 
aloof  from  all  elevating  influences — that  their  system,  which 
held  them  as  property,  tended  to  dehumanize  what  remains  of 
manliness  barbarism  had  left  to  them.  Yet,  when  the  severest 
test  was  applied  to  them,  their  conduct  would  have  done  honor 
to  the  most  civilized  people  in  Christendom.  The  conclusion 
seemed  to  be  inevitable  that  the  influence  of  their  masters  had 
not  done  them  the  harm  assumed.  Their  contact  with  the  well- 
ordered  civilization  of  America  had  ripened  them  into  men  of 
a  higher  order  than  their  African  ancestors.  If,  in  many  re- 
spects, they  remained  ignorant  and  stupid,  in  others,  they 
had  been  educated  to  a  manly  self-control  and  a  high  degree 
of  good  sense.  This  result  is  extremely  honorable  to  the 
Southern  people.  Force  of  character  in  their  masters  ajid 
general  contact  with  them  throutrh  y-enerations  had  devel- 
oped  much  of  essential  manhood  in  the  enslaved  African.  It 
can  not  be  regarded  as  an  argnment  for  slavery.  A  forced 
labor  sj'stem  is  an  economical,  a  social,  and  a  moral  heresy, 
yet,  in  this  case,  it  had  its  palliatives.  It  held  a  barbarous 
race,  with  a  strong  hand,  in  steady  subordination  to,  and  con- 
tact with,  a  highly  civilized  and  enlightened  race,  until  many 
of  its  virtues  had  been  acquired. 

After  the  first  confusion,  and  repulsive  antagonism,  of  a 
forced  liberation  of  the  colored  race  among  their  former  mas- 
ters had  passed,  the  excellent  qualities  of  both  the  whites  and 
the  l)lacks  began  to  manifest  themselves  in  a  steady  and  rapid 
improvement  of  the  situation.     They  adjusted  themselves  to 


398  THE  Mississipri  vai,i.ey. 

eacjh  other  under  the  new  relations  better  than  uould  have 
been  expected.  Not  all  were  prudent  and  free  from  senseless 
passion  and  violence — but  tlie  general  masses,  on  each  side, 
displayed  their  best  qualities  to  each  other  and  made  the  best 
of  their  new  relations.  The  steady  imj)rovenieut  manifest  in 
almost  every  form  in  the  South  for  the  ten  years  foUowinjj 
1868,  and  the  general  quiet  that  reigned  through  its  commu- 
nities, admit  no  other  conclusion.  The  occasional  local  diffi- 
culties that  occurred,  and  that  seemed,  to  one  outside,  symp- 
toms of  a  general  convulsion,  proved  to  be  so  few,  so  liniited 
in  range,  and  so  dependent  on  outside  interference  and 
political  contests  for  their  existence,  as  to  prove  tlie  rule  in 
the  most  striking  manner. 

Under  this  general  reign  of  good  sense  and  moderation  the 
waste  of  war  began  to  be  rapidly  restored.  The  newly  created 
wealth  was  more  equally  distributed  and  produced  vastly  more 
general  comfort.  While  the  great  fortunes  of  the  periods  be- 
fore the  war  were  seldotn  regained,  a  large  number  reached  a 
condition  of  modest  abundance  and  prosperity.  Many  of  the 
colored  people  acquired  property  and  raised  themselves  to 
positions  of  respectability  and  influence.  Small  farms  and  a 
healthy  variety  of  industries  gave  evidence  that  the  natural 
laws  controlling  the  activities  and  interests  of  man  were  in 
full  play  and  were  operating  wholesome  changes.  The  abso- 
lute necessity  of  general  industry  to  save  themselves  from 
want  called  out  much  of  the  latent  energy  of  every  class  of 
the  people,  white  and  black,  and  began  to  introduce  the  respect 
for  honest  toil  that  had  before  been  more  largely  rendered  to 
it  in  the  North,  while  active  employment  helped  to  banish  the 
excessive  fervency  of  regret  for  what  had  been  lost.  Thus, 
there  was  a  growing  intensity  of  light  in  the  Southern  picture. 

There  were,  indeed,  many  shadows  that  were  extremely 
vexatious,  they  seemed,  to  Southerners,  so  unnecessary-r-the 
result  of  interference  by  the  General  Grovernment,  and  by 
associations  and  private  persons  from  the  North  interested, 


^ 


HOW    AMERIC-OTS    MANAGE    A    DIFFICCLTi".  399 

really  or  ostensibly,  in  the  welfare  of  the  freedman.  It  could 
not  be  expected  that  this  interference,  when  conducted  with  the 
greatest  care  and  judgment,  could  be  looked  on  with  approval 
by  tlie  South;  and  it  was  not  always  wisely  made.  Unscru- 
pulous and  selfish  men  sometimes  took  advantage  of  the  politi- 
cal powerlessness  of  the  whites  and  the  general  confusion  that 
too  easily  concealed  irregularities,  as  well  as  of  the  ignorance 
and  too  great  confidence  of  the  blacks,  to  carry  out  measures 
more  or  less  harmful.  Misunderstandings,  political  partisan- 
ship and  private  passion  often  interrupted,  for  a  time,  in  vari- 
ous localities,  the  growing  prosperity.  So.metimes  conflicts 
arose  in  which  blood  was  shed;  but  these  outbursts  did  not  so 
far  receive  the  approval  of  the  Southern  people  as  to  be  sup- 
ported, or  prove  capable  of  growing  to  serious  proportions. 
They,  as  a  whole,  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  General 
Government  and  endeavored  to  make  the  best  of  a  painful 
situation.  It  was  only  individuals,  or  really  small  minorities 
which  happened  to  be  strong  in  some  regions,  that  created  dis- 
turbance. Tlie  Southern  public,  in  general,  patiently  waited 
for  the  time  when  it  could  legally  set  right  what  it  saw  to  be 
oppressive  and  wrong,  thereby  proving  itself  fairly  worthy  of 
a  restoration  of  all  its  powers  as  a  body  politic  in  the  Union. 

Northern  sympathy  and  humanity  at  once  came  forward  to 
assist  in  the  relief  of  Southern  distress,  even  before  the  fight- 
ing had  wholly  ceased;  and  the  prosperous  activities  that  had 
been  maintained  in  the  free  States  during  all  the  mighty  con- 
flict were  prepared,  at  its  close,  to  enter  the  South  and  assist 
in  its  restoration.  Northern  wealth  flowed,  through  many 
business  channels,  into  the  unfortunate  States  and  helped  their 
industries  to  reorganize.  Old  merchants  and  planters  i-esumed 
the  relations  with  factors  and  capitalists  in  the  North  which 
had  been  suspended  during  the  struggle,  and  o1)tained  the 
credits  indispensable  to  the  re-commencemt  of  business. 

The  North  and  the  South  probably  respected  each  other 
even  more  after  the  war  than  before.     However  they  might 


400  THE    MISSISSIIM'I    VAI.l.KY. 

diifer  on  jiolitical  and  social  (jnestioiis,  they  each  privately 
lioiiored  the  other  with  tlie  esteem  of  countrymen  and  breth- 
ren, where  only  business  or  personal  relations  were  in  question. 
Business  interest  is  of  no  party;  northern  capital  at  once 
flowed  South  for  investment,  and  thousands  of  enterprising 
Northern  men  sought  to  establish  themselves  where  less  com- 
petition in  their  own  line  of  activity  promised  them  larger 
gains.  This  prejudice  gradually  gave  way,  painful  memories 
grew  dim,  and  the  future  became  more  and  more  attractive. 
The  most  valuable  resources  of  the  Southern  States  had  not 
been  developed,  to  any  great  extent,  under  their  former  labor 
system,  and  a  great,  a  new,  future  was  before  them.  The 
North  had  an  interest  in  this  thorough  development  of 
Southern  regions  second  only  to  that  of  their  own  inhabitants, 
and  eveiy  opportunity  for  profitable  investment  was  quickly 
improved. 

Thus,  money  immediately  began  to  circulate  in  the  South, 
manufactures  before  unknown  there  were  established,  a  market 
for  all  its  common  and  rarer  productions  was  very  soon  found. 
Material  prosperity  restored  the  dilapidated  cities,  the  waste 
places  began  to  bloom,  railways  multiplied,  a  hitherto  un- 
known bustle  and  activity  was  noted,  and  the  sorrowful  mem- 
ories of  the  past  gradually  retreated  before  a  new  prosperity, 
new  hopes  and  fears. 

The  pledge  of  a  speedy  and  complete  recovery  from  all  the 
evils  and  misfortunes,  in  which  the  close  of  war  found  them 
plunged,  was  in  the  character  of  the  Southern  people.  The 
very  immensity  of  the  misfortune  had  sprung  from  the  force 
and  tenacity  of  that  character;  and  one  of  the  distinguishing 
traits  of  the  Anglo-American — one  which  had  placed  his 
country,  in  three  quarters  of  a  century,  in  many  respects,  at 
the  very  head  of  modern  progress — was  his  flexibility.  United 
as  it  was  with  intelligence,  with  resolution  and  perseverance, 
it  made  him  superior  to  all  situations,  fertile  in  exjDedients 
for  surmounting  difiiculties  in  the  wise  and  practical  way 
habitual  to  the  English  and  their  kin. 


A    NEW    SITrATION    FAIRLY    ESTABLISHED.  401 

This  power  of  accommodation  to  circumstances,  joined  with 
force  of  character  and  the  strong  and  broad  good  sense  pecu- 
liar to  Americans  in  general,  was  never  more  conspicuous  in 
the  race  than  in  the  Southern  States  during  the  ten  years 
following  the  close  of  the  war,  but  especially  in  those  fol- 
lowing 1S70.  To  accept  their  former  servants  as  freemen 
and  citizens,  to  accommodate  themselves  to  a  new  labor 
system,  to  become  capable  masters  of  free  laborers,  to  con- 
vince them  that  they  were  their  real  friends,  and  to  assist 
them  to  a  wise  use  of  their  newly  gained  rights  and  privi- 
leges, was  a  supreme  eftort  for  them.  The  situation  having 
been  forced  on  them  contrary  to  their  will  and  judgment, 
they  had  themselves^  as  well  as  other  numerous  and  great  dif- 
ficulties, to  conquer. 

This  effort  was  substantially  crowned  with  success  at  the 
close  of  the  last  of  the  three  presidential  terms,  of  which  the 
first  commenced  in  the  spring  of  186.5.  It  was  naturally  im- 
possible for  a  free  people,  possessing  traits  of  character  so 
marked  and  vigorous,  to  so  far  forget  their  own  dignity  as  to 
yield  their  principles  to  anything  but  conviction,  and  they 
were  very  naturally  repelled  from  the  lesson  by  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  set  before  them  for  study.  It  had,  however, 
been  studied  with  careful  thoroughness  and  mental  change 
produced  changes  in  all  other  forms.  At  that  period  the 
National  Government  was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  spirit 
manifested  by  the  Southern  people  as  to  withdraw  all  signs  of 
outward  pressure  and  want  of  confidence  in  them  as  loyal 
citizens  of  the  Republic.  They  had  already,  at  various  times, 
resumed  the  political  management  of  their  own  States  and 
local  affairs,  and  were  now  as  completely  free  from  outside 
control  as  the  jSTorthern  people.  Such  a  result  required,  and 
had  been  gained  by,  the  co-operation  of  the  North  and  the 
South,  the  whites  and  the  blacks.  Their  mutual  eftorts  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  perpetual  Federal  and  National  Union, 
rendered  the  more  secure  that  the  vexed  questions  of  the 
26 


402  THK    MISSISSIPl'I    VALLEy. 

past  were,  in  real  truth,  forever  put  aside.  The  political  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  colored  race  were  now  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  guarantee  had 
received  the  sanction  of  the  white  portion  of  the  Southern 
people. 

If  the  foregoing  statements,  when  made,  seemed  often  too 
definite  and  positive,  and  to  ignore  some  aspects  and  circum- 
stances of  Southern  life  which  deeply  impressed  a  part  of  the 
Northern  people,  it  was  because  of  the  extreme  difficulty,  even 
to  an  enlightened  and  fairly  impartial  mind,  of  so  overcoming 
the  want  of  an  intimate  and  life-long  acquaintance  with  the 
inhabitants  of  another  section  as  to  be  able  to  judge,  with  exact 
discrimination  and  justice,  the  exceptional  incidents  and  acts 
of  violence  that  occurred,  from  time  to  time,  in  Southern 
society.  A  murder  in  the  South  was  liable  to  be  noticed 
with  more  care  and  to  be  interpreted  more  nnfavorably,  to  be 
suspected  of  a  deeper  political  significance,  than  one  occur- 
ring in  a  region  more  familiar,  and  with  whose  general  social, 
political  and  moral  tone  they  were  fully  acquainted.  Great 
changes  were  passing  in  the  general  mind  and  feeling  of  the 
South.  In  the  other  sections  the  degree  and  quality  of  these 
changes  were  not  fully  known  nor  easily  appreciated;  the 
explanation  of  the  Southerner,  who  alone  was  fully  prepared 
to  judge  them,  was  regarded  with  suspicion  as  probably 
partial  or  partisan. 

To  most  people  a  really  accurate  and  impartial  judgment 
of  events  and  persons  of  their  own  generation  is  impossible. 
The  perspective  is  not  siifficiently  extended;  the  view  is  too 
close;  the  reach  of  vision  too  narrow;  some  of  the  important 
relations  to  be  considered  are  too  imperfectly  known.  Besides, 
events  sometimes  admit  of  various  interpretations,  and  time 
alone  can  prove,  with  absolute  conclusiveness,  which  is  right. 
The  Southern  people  have  erred  in  various  ways,  they  have  suf- 
fered and  lost  much  more  than  most  people  outside  of  their  own 
section  can  well  appreciate,  but  they  have  re-conquered  a  lost 


CONSTITUTIONAL    CHANGES    IN    THE    SOUTH.  403 

prosperity  and  nationality  in  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time. 
As  a  section  they  have  proved  their  right  to  be  considered  real 
and  true  Americans. 

Constitutional  changes,  embracing  all  the  features  insisted 
on  by  the  General  Government,  had  been  introduced  when  the 
States  which  had  formerly  been  members  of  the  Confederate 
Union  were  re-admitted  by  the  Federal  Congress.  These 
re-admissions  of  Southern  States  commenced,  in  the  Valley, 
with  Tennessee,  which  conformed  its  Constitutinn  to  the  cir- 
cumstances by  a  Convention  whose  action  was  approved  by  the 
people  of  the  State,  March  4,  1865,  and  the  Legislature  and 
Governor,  appointed  under  it,  having  approved  the  Thirteenth 
and  Fourteenth  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  tlie  United 
States,  July  12  and  13, 1866.  the  State  was  formally  re-admit- 
ted by  Congress  on  the  24th  of  the  same  month.  Missouri 
and  Kentucky  were  not  held  to  have  left  the  Union.  Arkan- 
sas, Texas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi  and  Alabama  were  formally 
admitted  ti)  representation  in  Congress,  at  different  times, 
between  1868  and  1870.  The  votes  of  the  Freedmen  l)einff 
received  in  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  Constitutional 
Canventions  and  the  ratification  of  the  revised  instruments, 
the  Southern  whites  took  little  part  in  them,  although  procla- 
mations of  amnesty  had  restored  the  civil  rights  of  the  masses 
of  the  people. 

Most  of  these  new  Constitutions  formally  abolished  slavery, 
denied  the  right  of  secession,  and  forbade  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  debts  contracted  by  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ments. Some  of  them  were  subsequently  revised  and  omit- 
ted any  formal  statement  of  these  points,  but  left  out  the  word 
"white"  in  determining  the  qualifications  of  voters;  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Federal  Constitution,  binding  on  all  the  States 
as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  sufficiently  securing  the  other 
points.  The  Constitution  of  Kentucky  remained  the  same.as 
in  1850,  although  some  of  its  provisions  were  made  obsolete 
by  the  amendments  to  the  Federal  Constitution.      Most  of 


404 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


these  States  made  provision  in  their  new  Constitutions  for  an 
efficient  common  school  system  of  education,  which  included 
the  colored  as  well  as  the  white  population,  and  the  State 
Governments  proceeded,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  put  them  in 
operation.  Many  millions  of  dollars,  in  the  course  of  years, 
flowed  in  from  the  North  in  support  of  educational  enterprises 
of  various  kinds,  and  a  new  source  of  promise  and  hope  for 
the  future  of  the  South  was  opened. 

One  very  unhappy  accompaniment  of  these  Constitutional 
and  Legislative  changes  was  experienced.  Tliey  were  sug- 
gested by  the  Federal  Government  but  conducted,  in  large 
part,  by  Northern  people  who  were  either  imperfectly  fitted 
for  that  task  by  want  of  familiarity  with  Southern  interests, 
or  dishonest  and  heartless  enough  to  make  personal  advance- 
ment a  principal  aim.  They  took  advantage  of  the  ignor- 
ance of  the  colored  people  and  the  helplessness  of  the  whites 
to  plunder  the  painfully  gathered  public  funds,  when,  of  all 
times,  it  was  most  harmful  to  the  desolated  States.  It 
was  one  of  the  cases  of  disorder  in  which  superior  authori- 
ties did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  interfere,  since,  nominally, 
the  State  Governments  were  re-established  and  Federal 
power  could  occupy  itself  only  in  its  restricted  circle,  unless 
called  upon  to  keep  the  public  peace  ;  therefore  freedom  of 
individual  action  and  respect  for  constitutional  limitations, 
combined  with  antagonism  between  the  white  and  colored 
races  in  the  South,  to  open  a  large  margin  to  possibilities  of 
harmful  action.  It  is  a  peculiarity  very  noticeable  in  various 
periods  of  our  history.  The  mode  of  its  cure  illustrates  a 
favorable  feature  of  American  life. 

It  could  only  be  effectually  corrected  by  the  Southern 
whites;  and,  in  proportion  as  the  evil  afflicted  and  injured 
them,  were  they  inspired  to  earnestness  in  the  effort  to 
gain  the  confidence  of  the  colored  voters,  at  least  of  a 
sufficient  number  to  give  them  control  of  State  Govern- 
ments.    In  this  way  the  evil  would  work  its  own  cure.    Years 


THE    FOUNDATIONS    OF    A    NEW    UNION.  405 

of  painful  contest  were  required,  indeed,  to  bring  this  adjust- 
ment to  a  conclusion,  involving  much  bitter  party  strife,  with 
occasional  acts  of  lamentable  violence  ;  but  it  was  steadily 
pushed  forward  by  the  interests  involved,  until  the  extension 
of  the  evil  was  stopped  and  its  effects  gradually  modified. 
Though  extremely  hurtful  and  discreditable,  it  was  terminated 
in  a  natural  way  by  the  free  operation  of  the  orderly  and  sen- 
sible spirit  of  the  people  themselves.  Freedom  is,  at  times, 
turbulent,  but  effectually  corrects  its  own  errors. 

Thus  social,  political  and  industrial  reconstruction  went 
hand  in  hand.  The  violence  which  had  required  it  left  the 
South  bleeding  at  every  pore  and  surrounded  with  the  ruins 
of  her  former  prosperous  greatness.  Gradually  her  wounds 
were  bound  up  and  healed;  the  fever  of  passion  passed  away 
from  both  North  and  South;  a  long  convalescence  followed, 
but  was  ended  by  the  return  of  rugged  health,  sounder  and 
broader  principles  of  policy,  and  the  elements  of  a  more  per- 
fect union  between  the  sections  of  the  country.  The  time 
was  soon  to  come  when  the  parties  who  had  met  in  deadly 
conflict  on  the  battle  fields,  which  they  had  left  strewed  with 
the  noblest  and  best  of  their  fallen  braves,  could  meet  on  the 
same  fields,  to  mourn  together  over  the  losses  of  each,  and 
mingle  their  tears  in  mutual  sympathy  and  respect.  They 
had  learned  to  know  each  other  on  a  thousand  battle  fields,  to 
esteem  their  common  country  more  highly  because  each 
formed  part  of  it,  and  had  clearly  ascertained  how  their  vari- 
ous interests  could  be  reconciled.  The  fearfiil  price  paid  for 
the  Union  re-established  and  more  perfectly  consolidated,  and 
for  the  removal  of  all  the  great  causes  of  discord,  was  not 
too  great  if  there  were  no  other  way  of  accomplishing  those 
ends.  Strong  races  must  needs  have  strong  faults.  Their 
errors  are,  occasionally,  as  disastrous  as  their  character  is 
vigorous;  but  human  life  was  not  arranged  to  exclude  error, 
and,  happily,  this  generous  race  was  capable  of  "  learning 
wisdom  by  the  things  it  suffered." 


I 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  UPPER  VALLEY  D0KING  THE  WAR. 

The  people  of  the  Southern  Valley  had  lost  about  four  fifths 
of  their  property  during  the  war,  and  found  numerous  and  great 
embarrassments,  at  first,  in  their  efforts  to  employ  the  remainder 
as  an  effective  base  for  the  recovery  of  prosperity.  In  addi- 
tion, they  had  lost  much  of  their  best  and  most  energetic 
population,  and  the  stimulus  of  lively  Iiope.  Dark  clouds 
lay  on  their  future,  gloom  rested  on  their  minds,  and  dis- 
couragement sapped  their  energies.  Ou  the  other  hand, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  upper  Valley  had  gained,  at  least,  as 
much  as  the  war  had  cost  them,  and  invested  it  in  important 
and  valuable  improvements  that  would  pay  a  large  interest  iu 
the  long  future.  General  prosperity  attended  them  during  all 
the  desperate  struggle — after  it  had  been  taken  into  tlie  account 
as  an  unavoidable  fact. 

Although  they  had  formerly  been  largely  dependent  on  the 
river  system  for  transportation,  the  railroads  had  delivered 
them  from- it  after  1850,  and  their  activities  were  scarcely 
embarrassed,  after  the  first  year  of  confusion,  by  the  blockade 
of  the  Mississippi.  Their  chief  trade  had  come  to  be  with 
the  East,  and  with  Europe  from  eastern  ports,  and  the  require- 
ments of  the  armies  had  made  up  the  loss  of  Southern  sales. 
The  West  had  sent  about  a  million  of  its  able-bodied  men  to 
the  armies  that  were  making  such  havoc  in  the  South,  and 
was  receiving  good  pay  from  the  Government  for  feeding 
them  there.  Their  places  were  partly  supplied  b}^  immigra- 
tion, for  more  than  .5.50,000  foreigners  had  come  into  the  North 
during  the  four  years  of  the  war,  and  a  large  part  had  been 
attracted  to  the  West  by  its  prosperity  and  the  large  wages 
paid  to  laborers.     The  remaining  loss  was  more  than  met  by 

406 


m 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  UPPER  VALLEY  DURING  THE  W  AR.    407 

the  increase  of  labor-saving  agricultural  machinery.  The  free 
circulation  of  money  had  given  all  the  stimulus  required. 
Development  had  been  uninterrupted,  and  perhaps  greater 
than  if  there  had  been  no  thunder  of  cannon  or  rattle  of  mus- 
ketry from  Kansas  to  the  Potf>mac.  When  the  war  closed, 
therefore,  the  West  had  never  been  so  prosperous.  The  puli- 
lic  debt,  which  had  put  so  much  money  in  circulation,  would 
make  itself  felt  in  the  future,  but,  for  the  present,  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Union  and  the  general  extreme  prosperity'  were 
the  prominent  facts. 

During  the  war  about  1,500  miles  of  railroad  had  lieen  built 
in  the  northern  Valley — about  as  much  as  the  length  of  one 
trunk  line  from  the  Atlantic  shore  to  the  Mississippi.  Four 
great  lines,  with  innumerable  feeders,  extended  from  the  cen- 
ter of  Iowa  and  Missouri  to  eastern  tidewater,  besides  the 
water  route  of  the  lakes  and  the  Erie  canal.  These  trans- 
ported the  stock,  the  pork  and  the  grain  of  the  West  to  the 
best  markets,  as  well  as  transferred  the  munitions  of  war  and 
army  supplies.  No  cordon  of  armed  vessels  beleagured  the 
Atlantic  ports;  no  international  law  prevented  free  intercourse 
with  the  world  beyond  the  ocean,  and  profitable  trade  and  com- 
merce went  on  as  usual.  It  was  well  for  the  North  that  this 
ample  outlet  had  been  put  in  good  working  order  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  conflict.  By  it  she  had  full  command  of 
all  her  resources  and  could  take  full  advantage  of  the  openings 
for  traflic  and  the  profusion  of  money. 

Machinery  for  conducting  agriculture  over  the  smooth  areas 
of  the  northern  Valley,  whereby  multitudes  of  men  could  be 
spared,  had  already  been  invented  and  introduced  before  the 
war,  and  many  establishments  for  multiplying  them  had  been 
constructed  even  as  far  west  as  the  Mississippi.  To  press 
their  production  and  dispersion  over  all  the  prairie  States  was 
easy.  Frequently  one  man  could  do  the  work  of  ten,  b}'  their 
help,  and  there  was,  thereto I'e,  ample  opportunity  to  raise  all 
the  food  that  could  be  sold.     The  increase  of  manufactures 


408  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

everywhere  called  for  larger  harvests  every  year  ;  the  great 
consumption  and  waste  of  war  increased  the  demand,  and 
foreign  export  continually  increased.  No  class  of  the  people 
were  more  prosperous  than  the  farmers — except  the  army 
contractors.  It  was  a  most  salutary  fact  and  helped  much 
to  lay  a  base  for  the  future  and  to  oflset  the  demoraliza- 
tion inevitable  in  a  state  of  war.  The  prosperity  of  this 
class,  and  the  necessity  of  manufacturing  for  them,  invited 
the  establishment  of  that  industry  on  a  larger  scale,  in  the 
"West,  built  up  the  cities  and  towns,  and  furnished  millions 
more  of  artisans  to  be  fed  at  home. 

The  creation  of  the  greenback,  or  Government  money,  was 
one  of  the  important  circumstances  of  the  situation.  It  gave 
a  vigor  of  life  and  activity  to  all  kinds  of  business  that  other- 
wise must  have  felt  the  impoverishment  of  war.  As  it  was, 
the  extraordinary  resources  of  the  Valley  were  drawn  out, 
profitable  trade  was  maintained,  the  money  was  scattered  far 
and  wide  to  benefit  every  class  of  the  people  and  stimulate 
every  kind  of  production.  The  actual  gain  in  capital,  and  in 
preparation  for  future  production  and  a  higher  degree  of 
prosperity,  must  have  been  fully  equal  to  all  the  immense 
expenditures  of  the  war. 

Thus,  when  the  war  closed,  everything  was  ready  in  the 
North  for  an  unexampled  spring  of  progress.  Skilled  me- 
chanics and  laborers,  in  every  branch  of  manufacture,  had 
been  gathered  and  trained;  farms  had  been  put  in  the  bent 
order;  careful  organization  of  all  branches  of  business  left  no 
time  to  be  wasted  in  preliminaries;  and  the  temper  of  the 
people  was  at  the  right  pitch  for  the  production  of  the  great- 
est possible  results.  It  was  as  fine  a  situation,  as  full  of  hope 
and  promise,  as  that  of  the  South  was  sad  and  dark. 

Nothing  could  show  more  impressively  the  advantage  of  a 
free  and  intelligent  laboring  class,  than  the  strong  contrast 
here  suggested  by  the  condition  of  the  sections.  The  unhappy 
South  drank  the  dregs  of  the  cup  of  confusion  and  trouble 


THE    CONTRAST    OF    THE    NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  409 

that  a  false  and  illogical  policy  had  poured  out  for  her.  Had 
the  Northern  people  lost  all,  as  the  Southern  had  done, 
they  would  still  have  had  the  skillful  hand  and  intelligently 
trained  muscles  of  their  laborers  to  re-create  capital.  These 
would  have  been  of  more  value  to  the  South  than  thousands 
of  millions  of  money. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 


THE    NEW    STARTING    POINT. 


It  is  seen  that  war  liad  wasted  only  the  South,  drained  it  of 
capital  and  left  it  helpless;  while  the  most  that  had  been  spent 
on  armaments  and  supplies  had  tended  to  assist  and  enrich  the 
people  of  the  North,  and  especially  those  living  in  the  Valley. 

The  new  starting  point  presented  features  of  promise  more 
inspiring  than  had  ever  before  smiled  on  that  region.  The 
extent  and  variety  of  its  resources  were  evidently  so  great  that 
no  conceivable  disaster  could  i-eally  interrupt,  or  seriously 
check,  the  progress  of  its  people.  It  could  sustain  the  loss  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  its  best  citizens  without  losing  the 
momentum  of  industrial  advance;  it  could  meet  every  possi- 
ble demand  for  its  productions  which  could  arise  in  the  coun- 
try or  come  from  foreign  lands;  it  conld  so  sustain  the  credit 
of  the  whole  country  by  its  boundless  possibilities  that  the 
waste  of  three  thousand  millions  of  treasure  could  be  borne 
with  little  difficulty;  it  could,  perhaps,  replace  them  by  its 
surplus  earnings  while  the  shock  of  armies  and  navies  was 
causing  the  whole  continent  to  tremble.  The  war  was  a 
singularly  triumphant  test  of  the  ability  of  the  country  to 
stand  any  strain,  to  meet  any  possible  call.  At  the  close  of 
that  mighty  struggle  all  the  channels  of  its  industry  and  trade 
were  full  to  overflowing,  ready  to  spread  out  over  the  devastated 
South,  and  to  employ  all  the  abilities  and  facilities  that  had 
been  occupied  for  years  in  the  armies  and  navies  of  the  nation. 
No  soldier  and  no  ship  need  fail  of  full  and  profitable  oppor- 
tunities for  such  service  as  their  soundness  could  render.  It 
was  discovered  to  have  the  widest  margin  for  "  profit  and  loss  " 
of  any  country  under  the  sun.  This  was  the  base  for  its  new 
start. 

410 


THE   GREAT   CHANGE    IN    THE    SITUATION.  -ill 

Up  to  this  time  the  move  prominent  feature  of  Valley  his- 
tory, as  a  whole,  had  been  that  of  laying  foundations,  of  mak- 
ing commencements,  opening  new  farms,  building  new  towns, 
estal)lishing  new  industries.  Tliis  feature  did  not  cease;  for 
over  all  its  settled  areas  and  around  all  its  northern  and  west- 
ern mareins  were  virsjin  lands  to  be  broken  for  the  first  time 
by  the  2:)low,  openings  for  new  activities  and  an  indetinitely 
greater  population.  The  filling  up  and  extension  might,  and 
did,  continue  as  actively  as  ever;  but  it  became  a  subordinate, 
it  was  no  longer  the  leading,  feature.  Development  from  the 
beginnings  already  made  became  that  leading  feature.  The 
Valley  was  now  ready  to  penetrate  beneath  the  surface,  to 
ascertain  how  deep  were  the  treasures  whose  "  first  fruits  " 
had  proved  so  rich.  The  more  absorbing  topic  was  how  to 
improve  methods  in  farming,  in  manufacture,  in  trade,  and 
organize  its  instruments  of  wealth  so  as  to  produce  more 
largely  at  less  cost.  The  prospecting  period  had  ceased,  the 
time  for  productive  labor  had  come;  running  hither  and  thither 
to  make  trials  comparatively  ceased  during  the  war,  when  the 
disturbed  condition  of  the  southwest,  and  the  smaller  num- 
ber of  unattached  individuals  rendered  a  steady  development 
of  the  farm,  the  trade,  or  the  manufacture  already  ojven  more 
profitable. 

The  people  of  Ohio,  for  instance,  no  longer,  as  in  former 
years,  poured  over  its  boundaries  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
yearly.  They  staid  at  home  to  make  the  most  if  their  oppor- 
tunities there.  The  stalwart  sons  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
staid  at  home  to  repair  their  desolations  and  create  new  sources 
of  gain  to  replace  their  losses  by  war  and  emancipation — and 
so  throughout  most  of  the  States.  Ohio  had  steadily  reduced 
its  State  indebtedness  per  head  of  its  population  during  the 
war.  In  1860  it  was  $6.09  for  each  of  its  population;  in  1865 
but  $5.13,  notwithstanding  the  vast  contributions  made,  under 
various  forms,  to  the  war  fund;  and  its  Auditorestimated  that  the 
whole  debt  might  easily  be  extinguished  in  seven  years,  while 


412  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

its  grand  career  of  public  prosperity,  seemed  but  just  begun. 
Similar  features,  modified  by  various  circumstances  but  testi- 
fying to  the  same  great  facts,  characterized  all  the  States  of  the 
Northwest.  The  innumerable  springs  of  prosperity  that  had 
been  gushing  forth  from  the  whole  surface  of  the  West  during 
the  last  fifty  years  were  now  gathering  into  a  mighty  river, 
broadening  and  deepening  with  every  stage  of  progress. 

The  situation  was  improved  by  the  new  national  enthusiasm 
developed  by  the  victories  of  the  war  and  the  new  sense  of 
unity  and  strength  in  the  Republic.  The  institutions  estab- 
lished in  the  Valley  had  been  subjected  to  a  powerful  strain 
and  had  manifested  no  sign  of  weakness  but  had  rather  settled 
more  firmly  into  place.  The  test  seemed  to  have  been  a  ben- 
efit, rather  than  an  injury,  and  the  future  could  be  faced  with 
an  absolute  confidence.  The  element  of  weakness  and  dissen- 
sion that  had  seemed  to  be  forming  two  nationalities  in  the 
Valley  was  definitely  removed,  and,  sooner  or  later,  the  agen- 
cies set  in  operation  after  the  war  must  harmonize  the  popu- 
lation of  the  upper  and  lower  basins  in  their  feelings  and 
sympathies.  Soon,  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  upper 
branches  of  the  great  river  must  follow  the  course  of  the 
waters  and  enrich  all  the  South  with  their  golden  flood. 
There  was  a  stimulus  to  hopefulness  in  this  prospect  which 
could  not  but  react  with  immense  power  on  the  struggling 
energies  of  all  the  States;  inclining  the  South  to  courage,  the 
North  to  sympathy,  forbearance  and  generosity;  and  alto- 
gether to  united  counsels  and  vigorous  eftbrt.  The  future 
gave  assurance  of  restored  prosperity  to  the  exhausted  South, 
of  increased  gain  to  the  alert  and  enterprising  North.  The 
"  manifest  destiny  "  of  the  great  nation,  of  which  the  Valley 
included  so  important  a  part,  was  henceforth  quite  certain  and 
all  its  citizens  felt  themselves  girded  up  for  new  and  more 
arduous  undertakings. 

All  this  had  been  felt  by  the  North  and  the  Federal  Con- 
gress during  most  of  the  war  and  was  one  of  the  secrets  of 


HOPEFUL    ENEKGY    CREATES    EESOUKCES.  413 

its  snccess  if  not,  indeed,  the  principal  caiise  of  tlieir  con- 
stancy and  vigor  in  pressing  it.  The  failure  to  realize  this 
grand  future  was  a  possibility  which  the  people  and  their 
representatives  would  not  take  into  account;  to  secure  it  they 
considered  no  sacrifice  too  great,  and  felt  almost  as  sure  of  the 
ultimate  success  of  the  Federal  arras  at  the  beginning  as  at 
the  close  of  the  conflict.  This  idea  united  the  mass  of  both 
the  great  parties,  regardless  of  the  protest  of  the  minority, 
and  their  naturally  generous  sympathy  for  the  invaded  and 
bleeding  South. 

The  war  was  fought  to  a  successful  conclusion  to  realize 
this  idea,  and,  having  secured  that  end,  the  impulsive  force 
springing  from  it  naturally  gathered  weight  and  led  the  sec- 
tion which  had  triumphed  to  cherish,  more  heartily  than  ever, 
its  patriotic  dreams  of  future  greatness.  It  was  sensibly 
drawing  nearer  to  the  aim  of  its  hopes.  Nor  could  the  South 
long  remain  insensible  to  the  attractions  of  that  hope.  It 
had  dreamed  in  vain  of  a  separate  nation.  Now  that  the 
dream  was  dispelled  so  rudely  and  completely  it  must  discover 
that  it  had  much  misjudged  the  antagonist  that  had  tri- 
umphantly overcome  a  heroic  resistance;  must  presently  see 
that  such  wealth  of  resources,  such  manly  vigor  and  capacity, 
were  the  allies  it  needed.  It  must  comprehend  that  this 
reality  was  far  better  and  more  promising  than  the  dream  of 
an  empire  built  on  cotton  and  the  negro;  and,  dismissing  its 
dream  with  a  sigh,  perhaps,  would  address  itself  to  this 
beckoning  hope.  This  substantially  occurred.  The  idea  of 
recovering  slavery,  under  any  form,  was  immediately  given 
up  in  answer  to  the  earnest  wish  and  fi.xed  resolve  of  the 
rest  of  the  nation;  in  its  discouragement  and  poverty  it  was 
inspired  by  the  grander  views  that  began  to  smile  from  the 
future  and  the  situation  was  improved  by  the  beginning  of  a 
new  and  more  perfect  union  between  the  sections. 

When  the  armies  were  disbanded  in  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1865,  they  returned  to  their  homes  inspired  by  these  bright 


414  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

visions,  to  aid  in  making  them  a  reality.  So  filled  were  the 
released  soldiers  of  the  Federal  Government  with  this  patri- 
otic enthusiasm  that  they  displayed  very  little  ot"  the  inevita- 
ble demoralization  of  the  camp,  and  quietly  resumed  their 
places  in  the  office,  the  workshop  and  on  the  farm,  as  if  only 
returned  from  a  journey.  A  powerful  impulse  within  and 
about  them  carried  them  back  to  their  accustomed  life,  and 
the  demoralization  was  manifest  chiefly  in  the  looser  notions 
that  ruled,  for  a  time,  in  public  and  business  life,  and  in  the 
impatience  and  hurry  generally  felt  to  realize  their  personal 
aims  and  wishes  suddenly,  and  with  too  little  heed  to  the 
means  employed. 

This  promise  of  the  future  and  absorption  in  active  labor 
was  the  escape-valve  for  the  passion  and  excitement  brought 
from  the  army,  and  for  the  excessive  ambition  which  flush 
times  and  great  prosperity  had  encouraged  among  those  who 
had  remained  at  home.  In  due  time  it  would  be  chastened 
and  controlled  by  the  good  sense  of  the  general  community 
and  the  public  reprobation  it  would  not  fail  to  receive. 

The  Southern  soldier,  who  had  shown  himself  the  bravest 
of  the  brave — for  no  test  of  bravery  is  more  decisive  than 
that  displayed  in  support  of  a  constantly  failing  cause — being 
overpowered  and  disarmed,  experienced,  to  some  extent, 
a  very  natural  reaction,  and  a  longing  to  attach  himself  to 
ideas  and  occupy  himself  with  deeds  capable  of  succeeding. 
He  returned  to  build  up  the  wastes  and  repair  the  ruins  of 
the  desolated  "  sunny  South,"  penetrated  with  respect  for  his 
fellow  of  the  North  whom  his  utmost  valor  could  not  over- 
come or  weary,  and,  perhaps,  even  more  disposed  to  re-em- 
brace the  cause  of  the  promising  country  capable  of  inspir- 
ing so  much  tenacious  patriotism.  After  all,  it  was  his 
country  and  he  was  not  shut  out  from  sharing  its  glorious 
destiny.  He  would  soon  come  to  discover  that  the  real  re- 
sources of  his  beloved  South  were  wasted  and  overlooked  by 
the  former  system,  and  that  free  labor  and  a  more  varied  and 


THE   WAK    AN    EDUCATION    OF   THE   PEOPLE.  415 

intelligent  industry  alone  could  develop  it  and  give  it  proper 
rank  in  the  Union. 

With  the  return  of  the  army  to  productive  and  business 
life  higher  ideas  obtained  full  sway  and  a  period  of  more 
vigorous  execution  in  all  the  lines  of  development  opened. 
The  war  was  a  practical  education  of  the  people,  who  perceived 
more  clearly  what  they  wanted,  what  they  were  resolved  to 
have,  what  was  possible  and  how  it  was  to  be  obtained.  From 
this  point  commenced  a  new  growth,  a  new  vigor  of  pushing 
the  old  lines  of  growth,  and  a  new  sense  of  capacity'. 

A  new  era  opened  to  the  Valley  and  to  the  nation,  in  the 
year  1865,  and  the  first  ten  years  of  this  era  would  leave  the 
situation  so  improved,  old  evils  so  forgotten,  and  the  scars  of 
battle  so  nearly  covered  that  the  renovated  nation  would 
hardly  be  able  to  put  itself  back,  in  imagination,  in  the  posi- 
tion it  had  occupied  fifteen  years  before.  It  seemed  a  dim, 
distant,  and  almost  impossible  past. 


-  .--JT—   ./  *   t 


CHAPTER  V. 


VAST    EXTENSION    OF    THE    RAILWAY    SYSTEM. 


The  first  thing  to  be  done  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  new 
era  of  vast  development  in  the  great  V^alley  was  to  complete 
the  Railway  System  so  as  to  render  access  to  its  treasures  and 
remotest  localities  from  the  Eastern  and  Western  seaboards 
easy,  speedy  and  cheap.  The  Railway  was  the  true  provi- 
dence of  the  Valley.  Its  products  were  found  to  be  so  vast 
and  so  easily  obtained  that  water  transportation  by  its  systems 
of  rivers,  lakes  and  canals  was  wholly  inadequate  long  before 
the  latter  were  completed.  Corn,  transported  more  than  12.5 
miles  by  ordinary  roads,  loses  its  value,  or  profit,  even  when 
it  may  be  sold  at  75  cents  per  bushel  ;  and  wheat,  at  f  1.50 
per  bushel,  can  be  profitably  transported  only  250  miles. 
Residence  at  any  considerable  distance  from  places  of  ship- 
ment by  water  took  all  profit  from  the  heavy  products  of  the 
prairies.  When  the  water  courses  were  most  wanted  they 
were  frozen  up;  delay  by  accident,  and  frequent  losses,  re- 
quired a  high  rate  of  insurance,  and  with  only  facilities  of 
transportation  by  water  the  progress  of  this  rich  agricultural 
region  must  be  painfully  slow. 

The  transportation  of  freight  by  railroads  commenced  on 
a  grand  scale  in  1851  and  soon  came,  by  its  cheapness,  to  in- 
crease the  value  of  the  products  of  the  Valley  one  hundred 
and  sixty  times  over  that  which  they  bore  when  required  to 
be  transported  to  market  on  ordinary  roads  by  land.  Thus 
between  1850  and  1860  the  gold  mines  of  California  opened 
a  far  richer  mine  in  the  West  and  furnished  the  North  with 
the  "  sinews  of  war  "  for  the  four  years'  struggle. 

Railways  enriched  the  South  much  less  than  the  North, 
chiefly  owing  to  its  difi'erent   industrial   organization.     Its 

416 


SPEEDY    DEVELOPMENT    BY    RAILWAYS.  417 

inability  to  develop  its  equally  great  sources  of  wealth  except 
in  one  direction,  for  want  of  an  intelligent  laboring  class  and 
a  variety  of  pursuits,  left  it  far  behind  wlien  the  strict  com- 
parison was  made  in  a  long  and  vigorous  war.  Yet,  it  was 
by  means  of  its  railway  system  that  it  was  able  to  maintain  a 
desperate  resistance  so  long.  When  this  system  was  broken 
up  by  the  conquest  of  Chattanooga,  Atlanta,  and  Sherman's 
raid  through  Georgia  the  members  of  the  Confederacy  were 
severed  and  its  destruction  inevitable. 

During  the  war  comparatively  little  was  done  in  railway 
extension.  About  1,500  miles  had  been  built  during  the  four 
years,  in  the  northern  Valley;  but  for  the  next  five  years  the 
system  was  extended  greatly,  averaging  2,000  miles  a  year  for 
the  whole  Valley,  or  10,000  by  1870.  In  the  next  four  years 
the  increase  was  more  than  12,000  miles  in  the  Valley,  and 
the  whole  increase  outside  of  it  for  the  ten  years,  a  large  part 
of  which  was,  directly  or  indirectly,  tributary  to  its  prosper- 
ity, was  about  20,000  miles. 

The  value  of  the  merchandise  transported  over  all  the  rail- 
ways of  the  country  in  1870  was  suv  times  the  amount  of  the 
public  debt,  and  had  increased  yearly,  after  186.5,  on  an  aver- 
age of  over  a  thousand  million  dollars,  or  one  half  the  war 
debt,  and  the  earnings  of  all  the  roads  were  about  one  fifth  of 
tliat  debt  yearly.  All  the  railways  in  the  country,  in  1870, 
had  cost,  for  building,  about  one  thousand  five  hundred  million 
dollars,  and  it  has  been  affirmed  that  the  increased  value  they 
gave  to  property — or  the  wealth  they  created,  as  it  is  said — 
equaled  that  sum  the  moment  they  were  completed — that  is, 
their  existence  restored,  to  the  full,  the  capital  invested  in 
them.  They  increased  the  capacity  of  the  Valley  for  devel- 
opment perhaps  two  hundred  times.  We  quite  lose  ourselves 
in  these  immense  estimates;  but  the  new  nation  found  itself 
in  the  vast  wealth  which  immediately  flowed  through  all  the 
channels  of  commerce,  business  and  industry,  and,  while  con- 
stantly lightening  the  burdens  of  taxation,  was  able,  in  ten 
years,  to  pay  off  more  than  one  fifth  of  its  war  debt. 


418 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


While  yet  the  war  was  in  progress  the  prophetic  spirit  of 
the  people,  their  unbounded  confidence  in  the  great  destiny 
awaiting  the  re-united  nation  inspired  them  to  lay  great 
plans,  the  accoinplishineut  of  which  had  been  before  consid- 
ered as  vague  possibilities  of  a  distant  future.  In  1863,  while 
the  war  was  at  its  height,  the  Pacific  railway  was  planned. 
This  was  to  complete  the  railway  connections  between  the 
two  oceans.  In  1865  about  one  hundred  miles  of  it  were  com- 
pleted; in  1866  three  hundred  were  open  for  use;  three  hun- 
dred in  1867;  eight  hundred  in  1868,  and  the  remaining  three 
hundred  in  1869.  The  importance  of  this  enterprise  was  even 
greater  politically  than  commercially.  It  was  continuing,  and 
irrevocably  confirming,  the  idea  of  indissoluble  union — of  an 
undivided  nationality.  Its  economical  result  was  to  hasten 
the  growth  of  Nebraska  and  Colorado,  on  the  western  borders 
of  the  Valley;  to  tacilitate  the  working  of  the  precious  metals 
in  the  broad  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  to  build  up  the 
ports  and  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  to  bring 
China  and  the  trade  of  Eastern  Asia  practically  nearer  the 
Valley  by  more  than  two  thousand  miles.  Besides  this,  the 
moral  eifect  of  success  in  carrying  through,  in  so  short  a  time, 
the  greatest  undertaking  of  any  time  was,  possiblj',  greater 
still.  The  American  could  think  few  things  impossible  after 
this  experience  and  that  of  the  war,  and  all  the  citizens  were 
inspired  to  plan  boldly  and  execiite  vigorously  in  all  the  walks  ' 
of  life  and  business.  The  mental  force  which  it  brought  into 
action  told  with  great  effect. 

This  general  enthiisiasm  of  eagerness  to  provide  all  the  con- 
ditions for  the  great  developments  they  foresaw  was  shared  by 
the  General  Government  as  well  as  by  the  mass  of  the  people, 
which  it,  in  this  at  least,  very  completely  represented.  For 
many  years  every  possible  encouragement  was  given  to  the 
extension  of  the  railway  system.  To  assist  their  construction 
in  the  thinly  settled,  or  entirely  vacant,  sections,  and  over  the 
vast  distances  of  the  West,  Congress  granted,  between  the 


EFFECT    OF   GOVERNMENT    AID    TO    RAILWAYS.  419 

years  1850  and  1870,  about  80,000  square  miles  of  unsettled 
land  to  the  corporations  undertaking  tlie  work.  Some  of 
this  land  was  worthless  and  some  companies  failed  to  meet 
the  conditions;  but  it  has  been  estimated  that  nearly  60,000 
square  miles  would  be  available  and  valuable  to  the  conipa- 
uies.  Besides  this,  the  Government  lent  its  credit  in  bonds  to 
the  Pacific  road  for  over  sixty-four  million  dollars.  States, 
counties  and  towns  followed  this  example  with  contagious 
enthusiasm,  and  thei-e  was  accomplished,  in  a  few  years,  a 
work  that  might  reasonably  have  occupied  generations.  They 
did  not  see  the  point  at  which  it  was  advisable  to  moderate 
their  action,  and  where  encouragement  became  a  waste  and  a 
loss,  involving  great  financial  difficulty  for  the  production  and 
business  of  the  country.  The  world  could  not  immediately 
find  sufficient  market  for  the  supplies  necessary  to  occupy  all 
the  railways,  so  over-extended,  nor  a  sufficient  surplus  popu- 
lation to  occupy  and  cultivate  all  the  wild  lands  so  opened  to 
settlement. 

In  their  eagerness  to  accumulate  and  to  obtain  large  reve- 
nues, railway  organizations  consolidated  to  secure  a  monopoly 
of  business  and  control  the  price  of  carriage,  and  provoked 
opposition  and  counter  combinations;  excessive  investment  in 
railway  extension,  excessive  production,  excessive  speculation 
and  the  determination  torecover  the  currency  from  the  depreci- 
ation it  had  sustained  by  excessive  issue  diiring  the  war,  com- 
bined to  bring  on  a  serious  financial  disturbance  in  the  autumn 
of  1873.  Loose  morality  inevitably  gains  ground  when  the 
confusion  of  war  gives  a  shock  to  the  stricter  habits  of  peace, 
unaccustomed  profusion  of  expenditure  tempts  the  ambitious 
to  speculation  and  illicit  gain:  and  these  disorders  no  doubt 
had  much  to  do  with  the  sudden  check  to  the  rapid  movement 
of  business.  Activity  had  become  too  great  in  certain  lines, 
enthusiasm  had  turned  to  fever,  and  ends  had  been  lost  sight 
of  in  the  preparation  of  means. 

Yet,  happily,  in  a  country  where  action  and  reaction  have 


420 


THE    MISSISSirri    VALLEY. 


a  play  so  tree  and  imdisturbed,  the  cure  of  evils  is  soon  and 
naturally  accomplished.  While  the  active  period  of  railway 
expansion  continued  individuals  and  communities  were  eager 
to  have  one,  or  several,  passing  near  them  because  they  ad- 
vanced the  value  of  property;  the  yearly  earnings  of  the  roads 
averaged  $10,000  per  mile,  and  the  investment  of  money  in 
railway  stocks,  the  opportunities  for  speculation  on  a  large 
scale  and  in  various  ways  stimulated  capitalists,  and  finan- 
ciers, individuals  and  companies  found  many  opportunities 
for  gain.  The  free  organization  of  American  institutions 
provided  no  general  control  over  the  activities  of  its  citizens, 
and  left  the  extension  of  the  railway  system,  as  other  branches 
of  business,  to  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  trade.  When  rail- 
road investments  no  longer  proved  profitable  they  must  cease 
of  themselves. 

It  became  apparentin  theend,  that  railway  building  did  not 
really  require  government  aid  any  more  than  other  branches 
of  industry,  and  that  such  aid,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  sooner 
or  later  served  to  over-stimulate  that  branch  and  found  its  way 
quite  as  often  into  the  hands  of  individuals  as  into  the  public 
purse.  As  a  general  result  it  disturbed,  instead  of  aiding,  the 
natural  course  of  development,  and  produced  evils  greater 
than  it  removed.  It  increased  the  tendency  begun  during  the 
periods  of  profuse  war  expenditure,,  to  accumulate  wealth  in 
the  hands  of  individuals.  It  rendered  corporations  powerful 
enough  to  exert  an  e.xcessive  control  over  general  business, 
more  to  their  own  advantage  than  to  that  of  the  public;  and 
it  helped  to  destroy  the  equilibrium  of  development  which 
alone  can  prevent  difficult  situations  and  financial  crises  that 
sweep,  like  a  tropical  storm,  over  the  business  of  the  country, 
leaving  ruin  and  paralysis  in  their  track. 

Yet  this  stimulus  to  private  and  corporate  enterprise  was 
far  from  being  all  evil.  The  initiation  it  gave  to  great  under- 
takings which  promoted  rapidity  of  development  and  tended 
to  equalize  the  advantages  of  all  the  sections  of  the  whole 


ADVANTAGES    OF   THE    RAILROAD    FUROR.  421 

country,  the  immediate  access  afforded  to  new  sources  of  great 
wealth,  and  the  increase  in  the  variety  and  magnitude  of 
industrial  development,  could  not  be  other  than  an  advantage 
in  many  ways,  and  highly  profitable  in  the  long  run.  Tlie 
harm  was  limited  and  temporary;  disturbing  relations  rather 
than  resources.  It  was  so  far  a  positive  benefit  that  the  dis- 
turbance of  business  made  political  economy  and  the  laws  of 
trade  and  finance  the  subject  of  a  prolonged  and  profound  study 
while  industry  was  changing  its  front  and  its  organization,  and 
capital  was  preparing  for  new  undertakings.  The  sudden 
introduction  of  new  and  powerful  forces  into  the  fields  of 
business,  and  the  immense  wealth  developed  thereby,  had  dis- 
concerted the  best  trained  intellijrence  of  the  a^e;  the  laws 
of  business  and  industry  applicable  to  former  times  and  dif- 
ferent situations  were  no  longer  in  point ;  fresh  studies  were 
required  to  master  a  science  whose  field  had  lost  its  ancient 
boundaries  by  a  vast  enlargement  and  included  new  elements. 
The  financial  reverses  and  business  stagnation  that  followed 
the  autumn  of  1873  gave  the  needed  opportunity  of  re-exam- 
ination, and  an  immediate  effort  was  made  to  comprehend 
and  control  the  ditiiculty,  to  eliminate  the  immoral  ele- 
ments introduced  or  inspired  by  the  confusion  and  disorder 
of  war,  and  to  apply  such  modifications  to  public  policy  as  ex- 
perience and  reflection  should  suggest.  The  i-esult  could  not 
but  be  beneficial.  Meantime  the  true  wealth  and  prosperity 
of  the  country  remained  the  same.  The  Valley,  the  seat  and 
source  of  the  bulk  of  real  wealth  in  the  nation,  was  least 
affected  by  the  temporary  check — the  ebb-tide  of  business — 
her  farmers  still  supplied  the  markets  of  the  world  with  their 
surplus  products,  and,  by  organization,  were  able  to  apply 
some  restraint  to  powerful  corporations  by  whom  they  had 
felt  oppressed,  and  secured  a  larger  per  cent  of  profit  on  their 
products  than  formerly;  and,  though  the  rush  of  improvement 
ceased,  extensions  of  the  railway  system  actually  required 
continued  to  be  made. 


422  THE    MISSISSIl'l'I    VALLICV. 

That  system  had  grown  by  nearly  5,000  miles  yearly  for  the 
three  years  following  1870.  It  still  continued  to  extend  at 
the  rate  of  more  than  1,000  miles  yearly.  Many  roads  became 
unprofitable  to  the  holders  of  their  stock  while  yet  doing  good 
and  useful  service  to  the  communities  through  which  they 
passed;  and  in  general,  after  a  little  time,  the  financial  reverse 
was  more  injurious  to  individuals  and  corporations  than  to 
the  public  at  large.  In  this,  as  in  so  many  other  cases  in 
American  experience,  the  free  operation  of  social  and  indus- 
trial law  soon  corrected  the  errors  of  governments  and  the 
disorganizing  efi'ects  of  unnatural  events — such  as  excess  and 
hurry  of  immigration,  the  existence  of  slavery,  civil  war, 
and  general  overhaste  in  improvement.  All  the  depart- 
ments of  life  are  found  to  have  been  submitted  to  the  opera- 
tion of  definite  laws,  and  to  possess,  in  themselves,  a  recu- 
perative power  whicli,  if  its  operation  be  not  interfered  with, 
quickly  reveals  a  remedy  for  the  wounds  that  may  have  been 
received  by  ignorant  or  e.Kcessive  action  ;  and  this  remedy 
commonlj'  presents  itself  during  the  reaction  following 
naturally  after  the  harm. 

During  this  period  of  activity  following  the  war,  every 
part  of  the  Valley  was  made  accessible  and  obtained  profitable 
connections  with  the  markets  it  required;  or,  in  cases  where 
important  links  had  not  been  completed,  in  1873,  they  were 
finished  subsequently.  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Colorado,  and 
even  the  Indian  Territory,  were  brought  into  relations  with 
all  the  rest  of  the  country. 

In  187-1,  the  lines  of  railway  west  of  the  Mississippi,  in  all 
the  States  and  Territories  to  the  Pacific,  fell  but  little  below 
20,000  miles;  the  five  States  formed  out  of  the  original  North- 
west Territory  had  constructed  nearly  21,000;  and  the  re- 
maining part  of  the  Valley  had  more  than  8,000.  Of  the 
railways  beyond  the  Mississippi  scarcely  3,000  miles  lay  be- 
yond the  western  border  of  the  Valley,  and  about  45,000  out 
of  the  72,600  in  the  United  States,  were  in  the  Valley  itself. 


RAILWAYS    AND   TELEGKAPHS   CONSOLIDATE. 


423 


The  total  cost  of  all  these  railways  has  been  considerably 
more  than  twice  the  amount  of  the  public  debt. 

This  was  the  material  preparation  for  the  new  union  and 
the  new  greatness  which  was  rendered  possible  by  the  result 
of  the  war.  In  the  accomplishment  of  this  task  the  railway 
was  powerfully  aided  by  the  electric  telegraph,  which,  extend- 
ing its  intricate  network  still  more  widely  than  the  railway 
system  over  all  parts  of  the  country,  put  every  section  in  daily 
and  at  need,  almost  instantaneous,  communication  with  the 
rest;  it  facilitated  the  dispatch  of  business  as  much  as  it  pro- 
moted intimate  intercourse,  mutual  acquaintance  and  unity 
of  sentiment. 

These  two  instruments,  the  one  bearing  exchanges  of  value, 
the  other  exchanges  of  thought,  consolidated  the  Union  much 
more  perfectly  than  the  war  could  do  it.  They  aided  in  equal- 
izing the  wealth  of  the  sections,  in  building  up  mutual  inter- 
ests and  sympathies,  and  in  removing  all  the  remaining  bar- 
riers that  kept  them  apart. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


PRODUCTION    OF    MINERAL    WEALTH    IN    THE   NEW    ERA. 


The  universal  spread  of  railways  in  the  Valley  furnished  a 
test  of  its  capacities  in  many  directions.  The  Atlantic  Slope 
had  proved  to  be  extremely  rich  in  coal,  in  iron,  and  in  build- 
ing material,  and  the  Pacific  coast  had,  soon  after  1870,  al- 
ready supplied  a  thousand  and  two  hundred  million  dollars  in 
precious  metals.  The  Valley  had  been  chiefly  esteemed  out- 
side of  it  for  its  capacity  to  supply  unlimited  quantities  of 
food  and  for  giving,  by  these  supplies  and  its  purchases,  the 
most  complete  support  to  the  varied  manufacturing  industries 
of  the  East  and  the  mining  of  the  West.  It  seemed  almost 
unfair  to  other  sections  that  it  should  display  anything  more 
than  a  local  abundance  of  resources  in  their  own  special  lines. 

Yet,  the  magnitude  of  modern  development  rendered  a 
monopoly  of  any  one  line  for  a  limited  region  impossible  for 
any  long  period  of  time.  Competition  reduced  profits  to  a 
narrow  margin  and  made  it  necessary  for  many  branches  of 
business  to  transfer  themselves  to  the  regions  where  they  could 
be  pursued  most  economically.  Under  this  imperative  law  of 
economy,  the  mineral  wealth  of  the  Valley  began  to  rise  to 
prominence  with  the  spread  of  railroads,  and,  from  seven  to 
ten  years  after  the  war,  some  of  the  industries  found  it  impos- 
sible to  maintain  an  extensive  and  profitable  activity  without 
its  aid. 

The  Valley  had  been  projected  on  a  grand  scale  in  all  its 
features;  whatever  it  did  contain  was  found,  in  most  cases,  to 
be  incomparably  abundant,  superior  in  qualit}',  and  to  l)e 
obtained  with  unaccustomed  ease  and  cheapness.  Geological 
explorations  had  already,  before  the  war,  made  known  man}' 
of  its  advantages;  and  the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania — lying 

424 


INCREASE    OF    IRON    PRODUCTION    IN    THE    VALLEY.  4:25 

on  either  side  of  the  mountains — soon  found  the  western  part 
more  varied  and  abundant  in  sources  of  wealth  than  the  east- 
ern, notwithstanding  the  enormous  deposits  of  anthracite  coal 
which  lay  so  near  the  largest  cities  and  greatest  manufactur- 
ing centers  of  the  country.  The  jiroduction  of  petroleum  and 
coal  across  the  mountains  became,  soon  after  1870,  nearly 
equal  to  the  vast  coal  trade  of  the  anthracite  fields  of  the  east; 
and  the  iron  trade  soon  develoj^ed  in  the  Valley  to  great  pro- 
portions. 

Although  most  of  the  States  of  the  Atlantic  border  abound 
in  iron,  which  was  first  worked  there,  the  larger  quantity, 
purer  quality  autl  greater  ease  and  cheapness  of  production 
speedily  led  to  extensive  mining  on  Lake  Superior,  in  Mis- 
souri, in  Tennessee  and  Alabama;  and  more  especiallj'  that  an 
abundance  of  suitable  coal  was  to  be  found  within  easy  reach 
of  the  ore  beds.  The  water  highways  of  the  West  permitted 
the  superior  ores  of  the  Michigan  and  Missouri  mines  to  be 
cheaply  transported  to  the  vicinity  of  the  coal  mines  of  Pitts- 
burgh and  Ohio,  to  Chicago  and  to  Indiana;  while  the  prox- 
imity of  excellent  ores  and  extensive  coal  beds  in  West  Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Alabama  encouraged  the 
progress  of  iron  production  in  those  States.  In  1872,  when 
the  point  of  highest  production  was  reached,  the  amount  of 
pig-iron  from  western  ores  began  to  approach  one  half  that  of 
the  whole  country.  The  rapid  increase  of  this  production  was 
checked,  in  1873,  by  the  financial  crisis;  but  it  became  quite 
evident  that  the  facilities  of  the  Valley  would,  in  a  few  years, 
concentrate  within  its  borders  much  the  larger  part  of  the  iron 
production  of  the  country.  England  has  long  produced  one 
half  the  iron  and  steel  used  by  the  world,  obtaining  much  of 
her  ore  from  other  countries;  but  the  Valley,  which  has  both 
the  best  ores  and  suitable  coal  in  unlimited  quantities,  will 
inevitably,  from  these  facts,  take  the  lead  of  the  World  as  well 
as  of  the  country  at  no  distant  time. 

In  1856,  the  world  consumed  7,000,000  tons  of  iron  annu- 


426  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ally;  in  1874,  15,000,000  tons  ;  by  the  end  of  this  century 
it  is  estimated  that  it  will  require  25,000,000  tons.  In  1860 
this  country  produced  somewhat  over  900,000  tons;  in  1870, 
1,800,000;  which  rose,  in  1872,  to  2,800,000.  In  1874  all  the 
furnacfis  of  the  country  had  a  capacity  for  producing  4,500,000 
tons — but  little  more  than  half  tliat  capacity  being  then  actu- 
ally used.  The  growth  of  this  industry  is  scarcely  begun  ; 
but  it  is  destined  to  an  enormous  development.  The  most 
promising  points  seem  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior and  Missouri,  though  they  may  be  possibly  equaled  in 
Tennessee,  Alabama  and  some  other  regions;  Ohio  and  Ar- 
kansas give  great  promise  of  future  abundance.  Of  all  the 
blast  furnaces  in  the  United  States  in  1871,  more  than  one 
half  were  within  tlie  Valley. 

Of  the  50,000,000  tons  of  coal  estimated  to  have  been  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  in  1873,  about  one  half  was  from 
various  parts  of  the  Valley;  Western  Pennsylvania  furnishing 
about  15,000,000  tons,  Michigan  30,000,  Indiana  800,000, 
Kentucky  300,000,  Illinois  3,000,000,  Colorado  200,000;  Iowa, 
Missouri,  Arkansas,  Alabama,  Tennessee  and  West  Virginia 
produced  the  remainder.  Texas  is  said  to  have  fine  qualities, 
and  probably  considerable  quantities  of  coal,  which  have  not, 
as  yet,  been  very  extensively  worked. 

Most  of  the  States  have  more  or  less  copper,  but  the  Lake 
Superior  mines  at  present  throw  all  others  into  the  shade. 
From  1858  they  have  been  progressively  productive,  until,  in 
1874,  out  of  19,700  tons  of  pure  copper  produced  in  the 
country,  17,300  were  obtained  from  them,  with  all  indications 
of  an  inexhaustible  supply  for  the  future. 

In  1870  the  census  statistics  of  mining,  including  quarrying, 
oil-boringand  peat-cutting,  amounted  to  $152,590,000  in  value; 
and  of' this  product  $80,400,000  was  obtained  in  the  Valley — 
4.300  out  of  the  7,900  establishments  being  located  there. 
In  1874,  10,600,000  barrels  of  petroleum — nearly  all  from 
the  Valley — were  produced.     In  1870,  all  the  salt  produced 


COMPARATIVE    AND    ABSOLUTE    VALUE    OF    METALS.  427 

in  the  coiiiitr}'  was  valued  at  $4,800,000,  of  which  $3,800,000 
was  the  product  of  the  "Valley  States. 

The  product  of  the  borders  of  the  Valley  in  the  precious 
metals  has  been  comparatively  insignificant;  yet,  up  to  1872, 
all  the  regions  drained  by  the  Valley  systems  of  rivers  had 
produced  about  $55,000,000,  with  an  annual  product  at  that 
time  of  at  least  $10,000,000,  and  the  explorations  appeared  to 
be  yet  in  their  infancy.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  eastern 
slope  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  will  produce,  when  it  comes  to 
be  carefully  worked,  at  least  one  third  of  the  annual  product 
of  precious  metals  in  the  whole  country.  Yet,  except  to  the 
development  of  the  regions  immediately  concerned,  this  in- 
dustry is  of  comparatively  small  moment.  It  has  been  af- 
firmed that  these  metals  cost  twice  their  intrinsic  value  to 
obtain,  and  they  are  mainly  useful  as  measures,  or  represen- 
tatives, of  value,  while  iron  is  stated  to  add  by  a  thousand  fold 
of  its  original  value  when  wrought  up  for  the  various  uses  of 
civilized  man,  to  liis  actual  wealth,  or  to  his  capacity  for 
producing  wealth;  and  four  tons  of  coal,  employed  in  gen- 
erating steam,  is  said  to  produce  an  effective  force  equal  to 
the  muscular  power  for  labor  of  35,000  men. 

It  is  truly  significant,  that  this  remarkable  region  is  most 
eminently  rich  in  those  metals  most  important  to  man  as 
aids  in  attaining  the  highest  ends  of  the  most  perfect  civili- 
zation and  of  the  truest  prosperity.  The  Valley  has  unlim- 
ited stores  of  material  for  the  necessities,  the  conveniences, 
and  the  comforts  of  man  in  his  most  cultivated  state,  and  was 
evidently  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  together, 
in  a  compact  body,  the  largest  number  and  the  greatest  devel- 
opment of  useful  industries  that  will  ever  be  found  in  any  one 
region  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EAPID   GROWTH    OF   MANUFACTURES. 

But  one  generation  has  passed  since  the  railroad  began  to 
lend  its  aid  to  the  development  of  the  Republic,  to  any  con- 
siderable extent.  In  1848,  but  little  over  8,000  miles  of  road 
had  been  built.  At  that  time  the  West  had  been  rejoicing 
over  the  powerful  aid  of  the  steaTuboat  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  had  invested  largely  in  canals,  and  had  found  the 
capacity  of  water  carriage  unequal  to  the  vast  amount  and  kind 
of  work  required.  The  proper  points  were  not  reached;  the 
cheapness,  speed  and  safety  required  were  unattainable,  so 
great  was  the  rate  of  growth  in  production  and  of  capacity 
in  the  markets  to  be  supplied.  The  difficulties  of  cost,  of 
time,  of  space,  must  be  overcome. 

These  were  set  aside  by  the  railroad  It  could  be  extended 
everywhere,  it  was  so  elastic;  it  was  capable  of  enlargement 
to  meet  all  possible  necessities  in  the  amount  of  labor  to  be 
done.  Nothing  so  unified  the  country,  so  equalized  the  ad- 
vantages of  different  sections,  so  set  aside  natural  difficulties. 
While  there  still  remained  large  margins  of  profit  in  all 
branches  of  trade  it  promoted,  it  was  almost  as  if  all  the 
mountains  had  been  leveled  and  the  far  interior  brought  to 
the  seaboard.  Yet,  this  was  a  brief  period,  for  production 
was  so  stimulated  that  competition  i-educed  the  margins,  the 
cost  of  transport  became  again  an  important  item,  and  the 
first  consideration  was  to  reduce  it.  Mountain  districts 
containing  the  minerals  necessary  to  the  manufacturer  were 
no  longer  shut  out  from  the  field  of  competition  because 
no  navigable  stream  opened  their  way  to  the  outside  world. 
A  railroad  set  aside  their  difficulties  and  made  their  wealth 
of  material  available.     Ease  of  access  to  and  from  eveiy  part 

428 


RAILROADS   GIVE    A    FREE    CHOICE    OF    LOCALITY.  429 

of  the  country  diffused  its  industries  by  the  freedom  of  move- 
ment permitted.  As  heat  and  water  dissolve  different  mineral 
substances  from  accidental  or  mechanical  combinations  and 
restore  to  them  their  freedom  to  act  after  their  highest  law, 
or  strongest  affinity,  so  the  railroad  gave  to  industry  and 
trade  full  liberty  to  rearrange  themselves  according  to  their 
respective  interests.  They  were  no  longer  subject  to  arbitrary 
influences,  nor  required  to  remain  where  they  had  been  placed 
accidentally,  or  under  the  demands  of  a  different  or  more 
restricted  population  and  smaller  markets. 

The  Valley  was  so  rounded  and  full  in  its  capacities  of 
serving  the  wants  of  the  age;  so  well  formed  and  so  related  to 
the  most  active  and  progressive  parts  of  the  modern  civilized 
world,  as  to  favor  freedom  in  every  line.  No  development 
anywhere  in  the  world  has  ever  been  so  completely  free  to 
obey  natural  law;  and  this  complete  freedom  came  to  manu- 
factures with  the  full  development  of  the  railroad  system, 
which  relieved  transfer  from  the  restraints  of  distance,  time 
and  cost.  It  unchained  activity — rendered  it  fluid,  so  to  speak 
— channels  were  opened  in  every  direction,  it  could  go  when 
it  was  wanted,  and  form  a  reservoir  for  re-distribution  wher- 
ever the  circumstances  favored.  Therefore,  all  the  capacities 
of  the  Valley  were  now  at  command  and  manufactures  sprang 
up  in  all  favorable  localities. 

As  will  be  seen  by  the  figures  of  the  following  chapter, 
the  amount  of  manufactures  in  1850,  '60  and  '70  compare  as 
24,  42  and  145  for  the  respective  periods.  Continued  back- 
ward 1840  may  be  represented  as  10  and  1830  as  4.  The  man- 
ufactures of  1820  were  inconsiderable,  amounting  to  a  few 
millions  altogether.  The  increase  was  still  greater  up  to  1874, 
when  financial  difficulty  arrested  the  development  of  that  class 
of  activities,  in  most  branches,  throughout  the  country.  Yet, 
the  production  was  largely  for  local  uses,  in  the  Valley,  whose 
farmers  continued  to  prosper  far  beyond  other  classes  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  tlie  comparative  diminution  in  volume  was  less  there 


430 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


than  elsewhere.  Tlie  manufactures  of  the  whole  country,  in 
1850,  were  very  near  one  third  smaller  than  those  of  the  Val- 
ley alone  in  1870.  All  the  manufactures  of  the  United  States 
were  given  as  $1,019,000,000,  in  1850,  and  in  the  Valley,  in 
1870,  at  $1,455,000,000. 

Such  a  growth  has  as  nearly  the  appearance  of  the  miracu- 
lous as  any  operation  of  natural  law  can  have.  This  industry 
has  a  natural  fixity — an  obstinacy  of  attachment  to  the  locality 
where  it  has  taken  root — greater  than  almost  any  other.  Hav- 
ing invested  capital  and  conformed  surrounding  circumstances 
to  its  requirements,  by  degrees  and  much  trouble,  it  does  not 
easily  determine  to  change,  and  growth  is  apt  to  cluster  around 
original  beginnings,  where  the  first  difficulties  have  been  over- 
come, and  where,  in  general,  various  special  circumstances 
favor  it.  The  East  had  made  it  a  specialty  and  was  ready  to 
increase  its  production  to  supply  all  demands;  but,  notwith- 
standing, it  must  see  a  very  prosperous  rival  suddenly  step 
into  the  market.  In  the  twenty  years,  between  1850  and  1870, 
the  entire  increase  in  the  value  of  manufactures  in  the  United 
States  was  $3,213,000,000,  of  which  the  increase  in  the  Valley 
was  $1,213,000,000.  With  all  the  advantages  of  the  East, 
its  volume  of  gain  above  that  of  the  Valley  was  but  $787,- 
000,000,  or  less  than  a  fourth  part  of  the  entire  gain.  That 
relative  gain  was  probably  largely  reduced  in  the  five  years 
following  the  taking  of  the  census. 

This  vast  growth  of  manufacturing  industries  in  the  Valley 
was  of  signal  advantage  to  it.  The  articles  made  in  its  midst 
were  much  cheaper — a  saving  of  many  tens  of  millions  to  the 
Valley  people — while  a  better  home  market  for  produce  was 
made,  giving  a  direct  gain  of  fully  as  much  more  to  the  farm- 
ers of  that  section. 

This  growth  in  the  center  of  the  Valley  was  relatively  much 
greater  than  on  the  borders.  The  advantage  of  entire  free- 
dom in  the  labor  system  was  seen  in  the  transfer  oi  one  third 
of  the  entire  manufacturing  interest  of  the  Valley,  in  1870, 


TENDENCY  OF  MANUFACTURES  TO  THE  CENTER.     431 

to  the  former  slavelioldhig  States.  Before  the  war  the  results 
of  this  kind  of  industry  were  trifiiug  in  the  sLive  States.  Of 
the  twenty  States  in  the  Valley,  Missouri  produced  nearly  one 
seventh  of  the  entire  manufactures  of  the  section,  and  only 
$63,000,000  less  than  Ohio,  the  "New  England  of  the  West," 
which  had  early  established  those  industries  and  for  some 
decades,  with  Western  Pennsylvania,  almost  entirely  monop- 
olized them. 

One  third  of  the  manufacturing  industries  in  the  Valley 
had,  in  1870,  sought  the  central  region,  indicating  a  very 
strong  tendency  to  much  greater  relative  growth  there.  This 
tendency  is  likely  to  be  permanent  for  a  long  time  to  come. 
Facility  of  access,  ease  and  cheapness  of  distribution,  are 
likely  to  seek  central  points  for  large  classes  of  articles. 
With  the  new,  deeper  and  broader  prosperity  that  will  fol- 
low the  readjustment  of  business,  made  during  the  financial 
depression,  the  old  tendencies  are  fairly  sure  to  be  resumed. 
It  has  been  so  in  every  case  hitherto  in  the  Valley.  Its 
greatest  igricultural  wealth  has  gravitated  in  the  same  direc- 
tion as  the  rivers,  and  its  manufacturing  develooment  will 
radiate  from  the  central  points. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   TRANSFER    OF    INDUSTRIES    TO    THE    VALLEY. 

Many  circiirastaiices  had  tended  to  localize  the  manufacturing 
industries  in  the  East.  They  had  been  established  there  while 
yet  the  West  was  a  new,  thinly-settled  frontier  and  very  difficult 
of  access,  and  had  reached  a  vast  development  while  the  mass 
of  the  population  and  the  general  capital  of  the  country  re- 
mained on  that  side  of  the  mountains;  great  investments  had 
been  made  in  machinery  and  buildings,  and  the  people  had  been 
taught  the  necessary  skill.  Only  powerful  inducements  could 
transfer  them,  or  the  recent  growth  of  them,  to  another  local- 
ity whose  leading  feature  was  agriculture,  the  almost  miracu- 
lous growth  of  which  was  creating  so  much  wealth  among 
the  masses  of  the  people,  and  making  so  many  fortunes.  It 
was  natural  to  suppose  that  the  growth  of  manufactures  would 
— until  the  Valley  became  comparatively  old  in  its  specialty 
— be  slow,  and  that  no  great  degree  of  actual  transfer  would 
take  place  for  many  decades. 

Up  to  1860  this  had  been  the  case.  Between  1850  and  1860 
the  product  of  manufacturing  industries  outside  of  the  Val- 
ley had  doubled;  within  the  Valley  the  increase  was  less — 
about  as  11  to  6.  Between  1860  and  1870,  on  the  contraiy, 
the  gain  in  the  value  of  the  products  of  manufacturing  indus- 
tries in  the  Valley  was  about  as  1-1  to  4 — or  increased  by  three 
and  a  half  times  itself — while  the  gain  in  the  East  was  nearly 
as  iS  to  19— only  a  little  more  than  doubled.  This  great 
change  in  the  direction  of  the  gain  intimated  a  sudden  and 
extensive  process  of  transfer  of  the  seat  of  some  manufactures 
from  East  to  West.  At  the  same  time  the  growth  of  popula- 
tion in  the  Valley  had  been  only  as  20  to  15;  while  outside 
the  Valley  it  had  been  as  18  to  15. 

433 


INDUSTRIAL  PEOGEESS  IN  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  VALLEY.         433 

That  is  to  say,  products  of  manufacturing  industry  in  the 
Valley  had  been  given  as  about  8242,000,000  in  1850;  §440,- 
000,000  in  1860, and  $1,455,000,000  in  1870;  while  the  entire 
manufactures  of  the  whole  coaintry  were  worth  $1,019,000,000 
in  1850;  $1,885,000,000  in  1860,  and  $4,232,000,000  in  1870. 
In  the  latter  year  one  third  the  value  of  all  the  manufactures 
was  produced  between  the  summits  of  the  Alleghany  and 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  gain  in  manufacturing  establish- 
ments was  not  so  great.  The  Valley  had  41,900  in  1850; 
52,100  in  1S60,  and  118,100  in  1870.  The  increase  in  the 
proportion  of  products  to  the  proportion  of  manufacturing 
establishments  in  the  Valley  was  as  3^  to  2^. 

Of  the  manufactures  in  the  Valley  about  60,000,000  more 
than  one  half  were  produced  in  the  live  States  formed  out  of 
tlie  original  Northwest  Territory;  one  third  was  obtained  in 
the  States  originally  slaveholding,  and  more  than  one  fifth 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  More  than  one  third  was  produced 
in  twelve  principal  cities;  Pittsburgh,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis 
furnishing  four  fifths  of  this,  and  St.  Louis — the  third  manu- 
facturing city  in  the  Union — nearly  one  half  of  that,  and  about 
one  ninth  of  all  the  manufactures  of  the  entire  Valley. 

Not  far  from  one  eighth  of  these  manufacturing  products 
of  the  Valley  came  from  the  fiouring  mills — although  but  a 
portion  of  her  grain  was  made  into  flour  within  her  borders. 
Of  the  $51,000,000  worth  of  agricultural  implements  made 
in  the  United  States  $32,000,000  were  made  in  the  Valley, 
and  nearly  two  tiiirds  of  these  were  produced  in  Ohio  and 
Illinois.  Ohio  made  these  implements  to  the  value  of  $11,- 
900,000;  NewYork$ll,800,000,  and  Illinois $8,800,000.  No 
other  State  made  to  the  value  of  $2,000,000  except  Pennsyl- 
vania $3,600,000;  Indiana  $2,300,000,  and  Wisconsin  $2,100,- 
000.  Of  the  $125,000,000  in  value  of  machinery  (other  than 
agricultural),  made  in  the  United  States.  $43,000,000  worth 
came  from  the  workshops  of  the  Valley — more  than  one  third. 
Much  of  her  pure  metal  and  some  of  her  ores  went  to  the 
28 


434  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAiLET. 

great  manufactories  of  the  East  to  be  worked  up,  and  some 
metal  was  exported.  Of  the  amount  made  in  the  Valley, 
Ohio,  Western  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  Missouri  and  Indiana 
produced  more  than  three  fourths,  of  which  Ohio  produced 
one  fourth,  Illinois  one  seventh,  and  Missouri  one  tenth.  Of 
the  carriages  and  wagons— amounting  to  sixty-live  million 
dollars  in  value  in  all  the  country — the  Valley  States  made 
thirty-one  million  dollars'  worth,  or  very  near  half.  In  this 
industry  Illinois,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana  and  Missouri  took 
the  lead;  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Kentucky  following  in  order. 
About  six  million  dollars'  worth  of  cotton  goods  were  manu- 
factured in  the  Valley,  not  far  from  two  thirds  of  which  were 
made  in  the  southern  part  of  the  basin. 

Without  going  into  further  details  it  is  plain  that  the  East 
has  no  monopoly  of  manufacturing;  that  many  of  those  indus- 
tries have  displayed  an  evident  intention  of  emigrating  across 
the  mountains  in  the  wake  of  much  more  than  half  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  country.  This  movement  did  not  become  decided, 
as  a  large  one,  until  after  the  war,  and,  in  1870,  it  had  but  fairly 
set  in.  It  was  actively  kept  up  until  1873,  when  the  financial 
reverses  of  the  country  struck  manufactures,  generally,  with 
paralysis,  where  not  required  for  immediate  consumption. 
Yet,  the  West  was  more  fortunate  than  other  sections,  be- 
cause its  great  industry — farming — gave  more  clear  revenue 
to  the  producers  than  ever  before,  from  the  greater  cheapness 
of  transportation,  and  could  spare  more,  in  proportion,  for 
improvements  and  luxuries  than  the  other  parts  of  the  country. 

That  it  steadily  advanced  in  the  direction  assumed  previ- 
ously to  1870  is  proven  by  the  great  growth  of  its  large  cities 
and  multitudes  of  its  towns.  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  with  a 
population  of  298,000  and  310,000,  respectively,  in  1870,  came 
to  contain,  by  estimate  of  their  people,  each  nearly  half  a  mil- 
lion inhabitants,  in  1876,  and  many  smaller  towns  grew  in 
proportion,  which  implied  great  progress  in  the  variety  and 
extent  of  the  manufacturing  industries  which,  in  considera- 


GROWTH  OF  MANUFACTURES  IN  THE  CENTRAL  VALLEY.   435 

ble  part,  supported  them.  While  there  is  not  likely  to  be  any 
failure,  in  the  East,  to  hold  a  steady  progress  in  its  industries, 
sreat  srowth  will  more  and  more  characterize  the  manufac- 
tures  of  the  interior  in  directions  which  seek  to  supply  those 
regions,  while  greater  convenience  of  access  to  the  materials 
used  will  lead  to  a  constant  process  of  transfer  of  certain 
industries  from  the  East  to  the  West. 

The  great  city  in  the  heart  of  the  Valley  and  of  the  coun- 
try, on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  near  the  moiiths  of 
the  Missouri  and  Ohio,  which  has  passed  so  many  others  so 
rapidly  in  attaining  the  rank  of  the  third  manufacturing  city 
in  the  Union,  has  every  reason  to  believe  it  possible  that,  at 
no  distant  day,  she  may  occupy  the  first  place.  As  the  upper 
and  lower  Valley  and  the  region  between  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Pacific  coast  fill  up  with  prosperous  inhabitants  her  indus- 
tries must  increase  in  proportion.  It  is  diflicult  to  see  why 
the  causes  that  have  led  to  so  startling  a  development  there,  in 
a  few  years,  should  not  continue  in  operation  with  an  increased 
momentum. 

The  manufactures  of  Missouri,  which,  in  1850,  were  $24,- 
000,000,  and  in  1860  $41,000,000.  were,  in  1870,  in  spite  of 
the  disorder,  waste  and  depression  of  four  years  of  civil  war 
in  the  State,'  $206,000,000.  Illinois  and  Ohio  had  less  to 
interrupt  and  much  more  to  stimulate  them  during  the  years 
of  the  war.  They  lost  no  time,  labor  or  means  in  the  re-organ- 
ization required  in  Missouri,  and  a  fuller  tide  of  prosperity 
had  set  in  for  them  both  by  1860.  In  1850  the  manufactur- 
ing industries  of  Ohio  produced  values  given,  by  the  census, 
at  $62,000,000,  which,  in  1860,  amounted  to  $121,000,000, 
and  in  1870  to  $269,000,000.  Illinois  manufactured,  in  1850, 
to  the  amount  of  $16,000,000,  in  1860  of  $57,000,000,  and  in 
1870  of  $205,000,000.  The  rate  of  increase  in  Ohio  during 
the  second  decade  was  2.22;  in  Illinois  3.59,  and  in  Missouri 
5,  notwithstanding  the  stagnation  and  waste  of  war.  The 
development  of  the  southern  Valley,  near  the  Mississippi, 


436  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  Missouri,  and  the  regions  west  and  southwest  of  them, 
in  the  years  to  come,  and  the  singular  extent  and  variety 
of  their  resources,  with  the  favorable  situation  and  mineral 
riches  of  Missouri,  would  seem  to  assure  it  a  far  greater  ratio 
of  progress  in  the  future.  St.  Louis,  as  a  manufacturing  cen- 
ter, will  grow  in  proportion. 

Arkansas  is  rich  in  some  of  the  best  qualities  of  coal  and 
has  already  begun  preparations  to  supply  to  the  lower  Valley 
what  it  has  been  accustomed  to  receive  from  Ohio  and  West- 
ern Pennsylvania  ;  Texas  is  said  to  possess  anthracite  coal  ; 
Colorado  is  already  producing  coal  at  the  rate  of  200,000 
tons  yearly  ;  and  other  regions  west  of  the  Mississippi  are 
known  to  be  rich  in  that  essential  of  manufacturing  and  me- 
chanical progress.  The  southwestern  and  the  western  sections 
of  the  Valley  are  therefore  certain  soon  to  display  the  high 
speed  of  progress  in  all  the  elements  of  wealth  and  industry 
that  has  been  so  marked  in  the  States  north  of  the  Ohio  and 
east  of  the  Mississippi  since  1S50.  Progress  in  every  section 
of  the  United  States  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  immense;  but  the 
period  for  the  transfer  of  capital,  of  skill,  and  of  the  most 
profitable  activity  to  the  Southwest  has  but  just  arrived,  and 
the  dial  which  shall  mark  the  advance  of  t^at  growth  is 
located  in  St.  Louis. 

The  need  of  cotton  manufactures  in  the  South  is  being  met 
and  a  certain  amount  of  transfer  from  New  England  of  that 
industry  has  set  in  and  proved  so  highly  successful  as  to  jus- 
tify the  foresight  of  its  great  increase  in  the  near  future;  the 
production  and  manufacture  of  iron  is  gaining  a  solid  footing 
in  East  Tennessee  and  Alabama,  with  the  promise  of  a  mag- 
nificent development  in  due  time;  and  Michigan,  so  favorably 
situated  and  so  remarkably  rich  in  its  upper  Peninsula,  in 
mineral  resources,  has  given  indications  of  a  growing  tendency 
to  compete  with  other  manufacturing  States  of  the  Vallej'  for 
a  high  place  in  the  front  rank.  Her  products  in  this  line  of 
industry  advanced  from  $11,000,000  in  1850,  to  $32,000,000 


RECENT    AND    FUTURE    GROWTH    OF    MANUFACTURES.        437 

in  1860,  and  $118,000,000  in  1870,  Development,  begnn  along 
the  Oliio,  lias  already  reached  the  northern  latitudes,  the 
facilities  and  material  there  are  unrivaled,  and,  having  fully 
started,  the  Northwest  will  make  great  progress. 

There  was,  therefore,  a  new  start  made  in  the  Valley  in 
manufacturing  industry  at  the  close  of  the  war.  When  the 
census  of  1870  was  taken  that  fresh  impulse  had  but  fairly 
commenced.  It  may  be  justly  concluded  that  the  regular  per 
cent  of  increase  had  not  been  reached  in  so  short  a  time;  for 
the  few  previous  years  had  been  only  a  portion  of  the  period 
of  beginnings  in  many  industries  destined  to  colossal  devel- 
opment. No  data  sufficiently  reliable  and  extended  have 
been  attainable  since  to  furnish  an  accurate  measure  of  the 
later  speed  of  progress,  but  they  will  be  supplied  by  the  census 
of  1880  ;  yet,  the  indications  of  the  summaries  furnished  by 
commerce,  by  the  export  of  the  products  of  different  branches 
of  industry,  and  various  manuals  of  trade,  indicate  the  full 
realization  of  a  very  reasonable  expectation  of  immense  de- 
velopment up  to,  and  in  some  cases  after,  the  financial  disas- 
ters of  1873.  There  is  also  much  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
arrest  of  activity  in  various  lines  of  manufacture  in  the  East 
favored  a  change  of  location  to  more  desirable  points  in  the 
West  and  South ;  or  a  considerable  amount  of  transfer  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Valley;  particularly  in  those  branches  which 
had  nothing  to  hope  from  foreign  commerce  in  the  near 
future,  but  bore  important  relations  to  the  whole  country. 
To  these  a  central  location  was  desirable  and  the  middle  Mis- 
sissippi region  alone  could  furnish  it. 

It  was  this  relation  of  the  Valley  that  rendered  the  result 
of  the  war  in  preserving  and  strengthening  the  Union  even 
more  important  to  it  than  to  other  sections.  The  wide  rela- 
tions, constantly  growing  in  magnitude,  and  the  severe  com- 
petition of  business  reduced  profit  to  an  extremely  small 
margin.  A  central  position  most  convenient  to  material  and 
to  the  largest  number  of  customers  often  made  the  difference 


438  TUE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

between  success  and  failure,  or,  at  least,  threatened  to  have 
that  effect. 

An  entirely  free  system  of  trade  relations  between  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country  favored  the  interests  of  all  in  a  high 
degree;  but  most  of  all,  that  which  had  the  most  numerous 
relations — the  central  Valley.  It  must  become,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  common  ground  for  economical  exchanges,  and 
the  theatre  of  the  most  varied  activities  aside  from  its  natural 
capacities  for  valuable  production.  It  had,  therefore,  an 
eminent  interest  in  unity  and  harmony. 

The  specialties  of  the  East  and  the  West,  of  the  manufac- 
turing and  mining  sections,  made  them  its  best  customers,       'hi 
the  largest  buyers   of  its   surplus  food  products,  and  profit        -^H 
might  often  depend  on  the  cheapest  and  freest  transfer.     As  ' 

it  was  the  real  center,  capital  from  other  regions  flowed  to  it, 
a  certain  share  of  the  industries  most  peculiar  to  other  re- 
gions would  be  transferred  to  it  from  motives  of  convenience, 
and  it  would  assume  pre-eminence  from  its  position  as  well 
as  from  its  resources.  This  tendency  is  likely  to  continue  and 
gather  strength  as  time  passes. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CULTIVATED    AREAS   AND    FARM    VALUES    IN   THE    NEW    ERA. 

The  brilliant  progress  secured  to  the  Valley  from  the  close 
of  the  war  had  commenced  with  the  second  year  of  that  strug- 
gle, when  the  first  line  of  Confederate  defence  had  been  broken. 
The  loyal  part  of  the  Union  no  longer  doubted  the  ultimate 
result;  the  issues  of  bonds  and  legal  tenders  of  the  Govern- 
ment served  the  purpose  of  a  vast  capital  supplied  to  the  bus- 
iness of  the  North;  and  the  States  above  the  Ohio  River  com- 
menced a  new  career  of  remarkable  prosperity.  In  all  the 
free  States  a  new  impulse  had  been  given  to  manufactures 
and  trade,  railways  were  organized  or  extended,  cities  grew 
apace,  workshops  sprung  up  and  business  of  most  kinds  be- 
came unusually  active. 

The  eastern  States  extended  their  agriculture  under  the 
stimulus  of  high  prices,  and  by  favor  of  improved  methods, 
excellent  fertilizers  and  machinery  increased  results  with  a 
smaller  corps  of  laborers;  but  their  best  lands  had  long  been 
occupied  and  the  growth  of  agricultural  products  became,  from 
year  to  year,  less  adequate  to  the  supply  of  a  non-agricultural 
population  that  was  growing  so  much  more  rapidly.  The 
greater  supply  required  was  obtained  chiefly  in  the  Valley 
and  on  the  Pacific  coast.  In  the  East  the  vigorous  and  ainbi- 
tions  sons  of  the  farmer  were  drawn  to  the  cities  by  the  favor- 
able openings  offered  to  industry  and  enterprise  through  the 
factory,  the  workshop,  and  trade.  A  fortunate  venture,  a  few 
years  of  diligence,  or  a  government  contract,  often  produced 
a  fortune;  while  the  farm  promised,  at  best,  moderate  gains 
to  persevering  toil. 

The  fertile  Valley,  however,  gave  more  generous  promise, 
lent  itself  more  readily  to  the  use  of  machinery,  and  fur- 

439 


440  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VAiLEY. 

nished  large  returns  to  small  investments.  Railroads  pene- 
trated already  through  and  through  its  most  fertile  sections, 
and  bore  its  exhaustless  abundance,  at  comparatively  cheap 
rates,  to  all  the  villages  and  towns  of  the  manufacturing  East 
as  well  as  to  the  great  commercial  centers.  The  war,  the  growth 
of  cities,  the  new  activity  everywhere,  helped  to  build  up  the 
agriculture  of  the  West. 

The  increase  of  the  Yalley,  as  a  whole,  in  its  acreage  of 
improved  lands  in  farms,  between  1860  and  1870,  was  but 
28,000,000;  but  the  90,000,000  acres  of  1860  included  the 
lands  of  the  southern  Valley,  which  failed  to  show  as  largely 
in  the  census  of  1870  as  in  that  of  1860,  in  cultivated  land, 
by  39,000,000  acres.  This  loss,  and  its  natural  gain  had  there 
been  no  war,  would  probably  have  amounted,  at  least,  to 
eighty  million  acres,  which  must  be  added  to  the  gain  as  it 
appears  in  the  census  to  show  the  real  progress  of  the  Xorth- 
west.  The  value  of  farm  lands  in  tlie  Valley  amounted, 
in  1860,  to  three  thousand,  seven  hvindred  million  dollars, 
in  1870  this  value  had  advanced  to  five  thousand,  four  hundred 
millions;  while  those  values  in  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana,  Texas  and  Tennessee  had  fallen  off,  in  1870, 
from  the  amount  given  in  1860  four  hundred  and  eighty-five 
millions.  Their  united  increase,  added  to  the  greater  increase 
of  Missouri  and  Kentucky  had  there  been  no  war,  should 
have  been  at  least  a  thousand  million  dollars.  The  southern 
Valley  may  be  fairly  estimated  to  have  lost  in  agricultural 
values,  as  a  result  of  the  war — in  direct  waste  and  failure  of 
natural  increase — to  the  amount  of  two  thousand  million 
dollars. 

The  actual  gain  of  the  whole  countr}'  in  the  value  of  farms 
was  two  thousand,  six  hundred  million  dollars;  of  which  one 
thousand,  seven  hundred  millions  was  in  the  northern  Valle\'. 
The  absolute  gain,  however,  ascertained  from  tlie  statistics  of 
the  several  States  and  Territories  of  the  Northwest  v,'ith 
Missouri,  Kentucky  West  Virginia  and  Western  Pennsylva- 


GAIN    IN    AGRICULTURAL   VALUES    AND    IMPLEMENTS.       441 

nia  was  about  two  thousand,  five  liundred  million  dollars.  As 
the  entire  value  of  farms  in  the  United  States,  by  the  census 
of  1S70,  was  $9,200,000,000,  the  gain  of  the  upper  Valley, 
during  this  decade  covering  the  years  of  an  immense  and 
wasteful  war,  was  more  than  one  fourth  of  that  vast  amount. 
This  advance  was  made  in  a  disturbed  period  and  at  long  dis- 
tances from  the  great  markets,  while  about  half  a  million  of 
the  more  effective  ftirmers  were  withdrawn  from  their  labors 
for  nearlv  half  the  time,  and  one  half  of  these  were  killed, 
disabled  by  wounds,  or  broken  in  health.  This  sufficiently 
indicates  the  astonishing  capacity  of  the  Valley  for  agricul- 
tural progress.  Railways  and  farm  machinery  supplied  its 
losses  and  carried  it  triumphantly  over  every  obstacle.  The 
values  lost  in  the  South  were  more  than  replaced  in  the 
North. 

The  gain  of  the  whole  country  in  the  value  of  farming 
implements  and  machinery  during  this  decade  was  one 
hnndred  ten  million  dollars,  seventy  millions  of  which  was 
in  the  Valley,  although  the  losses  in  this  respect,  in  the 
southern  Valley,  were  so  great  during  the  war  that  in  ISTO, 
the  values  of  1860  had  not  been  replaced  by  twenty-five 
million  dollars.  There  was,  therefore,  an  absolute  gain  in  the 
value  of  farm  appliances  in  the  upper  Valley  of  nearly  one 
hundred  million  dollars— much  more  than  one  fourth  of  the 
entire  value  of  those  articles  in  the  United  States  in  1860, 
which  then  amounted  to  the  value  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty-six  million  dollars.  This  investment,  much  of  which 
was  in  labor-saving  machinery,  explains  the  great  material 
progress  in  agricultm-al  values  during  a  period  of  changes  so 
great  and  trying  to  the  country.  In  many  cases  it  enabled 
one  man  to  accomplish  the  work  of  ten  and  produce  a  corres- 
ponding increase  of  income,  although,  necessarily,  a  part  of 
the  additional  income  must  be  spent  in  the  purchase  of  these 
instruments  of  labor.  But  by  their  means  the  supplies  and 
waste  of  war,  the  increasing  amount  required  by  the  growth 


442  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VAiLET. 

of  manufactures  and  large  proportionate  decrease  in  the  num- 
bers of  the  agricultural  population,  were  obtained  with  ease, 
and  the  war  was  closed  in  the  midst  of  an  almost  unprece- 
•  dented  general  prosperity.  For  this  it  had  to  thank,  first,  the 
generous  promptness  of  its  glorious  Valley,  and,  second,  the 
inventive  genius  and  skill  of  its  artisans  and  mechanics,  and, 
not  least,  the  capitalists  who  invested  so  freely  in  the  vast 
lines  of  railway  that  made  the  results  of  the  other  two  so 
completely  available. 

This  combination  of  favorable  circumstances,  at  a  most 
critical  period  in  the  history  of  the  Valley  and  the  political 
situation,  was  but  one  of  a  series  of  seeming  accidents  which 
we  must  regard  as  the  expression  of  a  law  controlling  and 
guiding  human  events  and  social  development.  All  history 
illustrates  this  law  which  binds  the  whole  race  together  in  a 
regular  sequence,  or  progressive  growth.  The  treasures  stored 
in  England  and  the  character  of  its  inhabitants  were  made  to 
tell,  at  the  proper  moment,  with  the  greatest  effect,  on  the 
development  of  the  civilization  of  the  whole  world.  The 
course  of  history  is  like  that  of  a  river  which  grows  con- 
stantly broader  and  deeper  and  more  powerful  with  its 
advance.  Every  considerable  change  in  locality  finds  it  in- 
creased in  volume  and  force  ;  the  past  is  repeated,  but  with 
a  change  and  in  larger  proportions.  The  immense  power 
added  by  the  Valley  to  the  course  of  events  must  have 
far  more  effect  on  the  history  and  development  of  man- 
kind than  any  previous  cause  whatever.  Its  entrance  into 
history  with  its  population,  unequaled  in  intelligence  and 
energy,  marked  the  commencement  of  a  period  of  changes  of 
great  and  beneficent  magnitude.  It  has  only  begun  to  tell 
on  the  general  course  of  events;  but  the  tendency  of  its  influ- 
ence is  clearly  marked  and  most  satisfactory.  The  character 
of  its  people,  under  favor  of  events  which  can  not  be  regarded 
as  fortuitous,  but  rather  the  operation  of  a  law,  or  system  of 
laws,  which  secures  the  progress  of  mankind,  as  a  whole,  in  a 
high  and  noble   direction,   assures   the   employment   of  its 


THE    PKOFIT    FOLLOWING   INVESTMENT    IS    GREAT.  443 

immeasurable  material  resources  in   the  interest  of  human 
welfare. 

This  was  tlie  true  commencement  of  the  period  of  profits 
as  distinguished  from  the  period  of  investments.  Pioneer 
labor — breaking  gruuud,  building,  covering  the  face  of  the 
country  with  all  the  important  features  of  a  truly  and  highly 
civilized  land — had  been  heretofore  the  main  features  of 
Valley  life.  More  than  could  be  earned  by  the  people  witht 
all  this  abundance  of  production  had  to  be  spent  in  improve- 
ments. These  improvements  paid  partly  in  immediate  and 
partly  in  prospective  values.  They  promoted  tlie  morality, 
good  order,  intelligence  and  general  welfare  of  the  commu- 
nities as  well  as  increased  the  present  value  of  propert}-. 
But  a  part  of  their  value  could  not  be  turned  into  dollars  and 
cents  at  once;  the  remainder  was  necessary  work  saved  to 
future  generations,  which  would  devote  themselves,  more 
fully  than  these  pioneers,  to  the  work  of  reaping  what  had 
been  sowed.  The  pioneers  had  labored  and  others  entered 
into  their  labors  to  continue  them  and  to  reap  both  a  higher 
kind  and  a  larger  per  cent  of  profit. 

Every  generation  accumulates  something  which  the  follow- 
ing inherits  to  add  to  it  and  transmit  increased  to  its  heirs. 
It  is  thus  that  a  grand  progress— an  accumulating  value  in 
possessions,  arts,  ideas,  institutions  and  character — has  been 
secured  to  mankind.  There  has  been  a  steady  onward  march 
of  the  eras,  centuries  and  generations.  Each  has  added  to 
what  it  received,  and  the  general  capital  of  the  race  has  in- 
cessantly accumulated.  Every  race,  every  land,  every  active 
life,  failure  as  well  as  success,  has  added  something  to  the 
general  fund;  some  more,  some  less,  according  to  their  quality 
and  gifts,  but  all  something.  It  is  hard  to  say  who  have  done 
the  most  among  nations;  but  the  Anglo-American  is  not  be- 
hind the  foremost,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  see  why  the  Valley 
has  not  been  permitted  to  give  the  most  among  all  lands. 
England  makes  all  lands  her  tributaries;  but  the  Valley  con- 
tains almost  all  classes  of  resources  in  itself. 


CHAPTEK  X. 

THE    GIFTS   OF   THE    SOIL AGRICULTURAL    PRODUCTIONS. 

The  value  of  the  farm  products  of  the  Valley  in  1870  was 
over  one  thousand,  five  hundred  million  dollars;  those  of  the 
rest  of  the  country  were  stated  at  nine  hundred  million.  But 
the  prices  obtained  in  the  regions  outside  of  the  Valley  were, 
in  general,  one  third  larger  than  the  average  prices  of  the 
same  kinds  in  it  because  they  were  surrounded  by  markets, 
while  the  products  of  the  Valley  had  to  go  far  to  seek  them. 
It  is  also  to  be  considered  that  the  States  of  the  southern 
Valley  did  not,  in  1870,  pi-oduce  one  half  as  much  as  in  1860, 
and  also  that  the  estimates  of  the  census  of  1870  were  made 
on  a  year  that  was  below  the  average  of  production.  If  the 
average  value  of  production  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  the  average  production  of  each  year  from  1866  to  1876 
be  applied,  the  annual  value  of  farm  productions  in  the 
Valley  would  not  vary  much  from  two  thousand  million 
dollars. 

In  1860,  the  number  of  bushels  of  the  principal  grains 
raised  in  the  United  States  was  twelve  hundred  thirty  millions, 
eight  hundred  fifty  millions  of  which  were  grown  in  the 
Valley.  In  1869,  the  whole  amount  was  thirteen  hundred 
eighty  millions — the  Valley  then  supplying  ten  hundred  and 
thirty  millions,  notwithstanding  an  immense  falling  oflF  in 
the  southern  part  of  it.  The  progress  made  in  the  first  half 
of  the  decade,  commencing  with  1870,  has  been  much  more 
striking.  The  crop  of  1875  was  about  three  fourths  larger 
in  the  Valley  than  that  of  1870  ;  and  more  than  twice  that 
of  1869,  amounting  to  seventeen  hundred  and  twenty  million 
bushels — the  product  of  the  whole  country  being  stated  at 
twenty-one   hundred  and  ninety   million   bushels.     In    this 

444 


ABUNDANT    CROPS    AND    LOW    PKICES.  445 

year  the  production  of  corn  was  ten  per  cent  larger  than  in 
the  previous  year,  the  whole  country  supplying  thirteen 
hundred  and  twenty  million  bushels  of  that  grain,  of  which 
eleven  hundred  and  forty  were  from  the  Valley. 

Yet,  not  one  tenth  of  the  prodiictive  lands  of  the  Valley 
were  cultivated  in  the  last  year  named,  and  the  period  of  be- 
ginnings is  so  recent  in  most  of  the  area  that  a  simple  and 
exhaustive  process  of  cultivation  is  generally  pursued.  A 
restorative  process,  that  constantly  returned  to  the  soil  the 
most  important  elements  taken  from  it  and  keeping  it  at  the 
highest  point  of  productive  capacity  would,  perhaps,  afford  on 
an  average,  results  four  times  larger  over  the  same  surface. 
Therefore,  the  utmost  that  has  yet  been  obtained  in  the  most 
favorable  years  is  but  a  faint  suggestion  of  its  wonderful 
possibilities. 

In  fact,  production  is  so  easy  and  abundant  that  individ- 
ual eageniess  is  constantly  pushing  results  beyond  the  jirofit- 
able  point.  The  enormous  yield  of  corn,  in  1875,  of  five 
hundred  million  bushels  beyond  the  average,  so  reduced 
prices  that,  if  the  same  sum  be  considered  to  have  been  paid 
for  the  amount  of  the  previous  crop,  this  excess  was  worth 
but  one  cent  a  bushel.  An  excess  is,  in  this  way,  shown  to 
be  a  heavy  loss  to  the  producers,  for  the  cost  bestowed  on  it 
before  it  is  ready  for  market  is  large.  Yet,  if  the  producers 
lost,  the  consumers  gained  and  either  hoarded  the  surplus, 
which  distribiites  the  wealth  of  the  Valley  over  the  whole 
country,  or  furnished  the  results  of  their  own  labors  to  the 
farmers  at  a  cheaper  rate,  which  returns  to  them  something 
of  their  loss.  Probably  the  first  is  done,  for  the  time  being, 
but  the  last  is  sure  to  occur  ultimately  in  some  degree.  The 
general  result  is,  that  the  world's  toilers  live  with  more  ease, 
and  the  Valley  spreads  its  blessings  .far  and  wide. 

Western  agriculture  has  always  been  on  the  verge  of  over- 
production and  is  likely  to  be  so  for  a  long  time  in  some 
directions.     Its  surplus  must  go  from  one  to  four  thousand 


446  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

miles  to  its  final  market,  and  the  cost  of  transport  so  di~ 
minishes  the  profit  of  the  producer  as  to  create  great  em- 
barrassments for  the  Western  farmers.  The  gain  of  the 
laboring  and  trading  millions  is  his  loss  to  a  large  extent, 
and  sets  him  to  an  anxious  search  for  the  means  of  repairing 
it.  This  is  hard  to  find ;  for  if  he  obliges  the  railway  to  share 
its  profit  with  him  the  railway  system — which  is  his  best 
ally — falls  into  endless  difiiculties  which  he  can  not  avoid 
sharing  more  or  less  ;  co-operation  to  reduce  the  cost  of  his 
purchases  disturbs  the  world  of  trade,  and  creates  other  diffi- 
culties which  trouble  the  prosperity  surrounding  him,  and 
which  must  affect  him  at  some  or  various  points.  A  direct 
and  immediate  remedy  produces  confusion  and  more  or  less 
loss.  In  a  general  way,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  less  inter- 
ference attempted  the  better. 

As  the  great  laws  that  control  the  intercourse,  the  conduct 
and  all  the  business  interests  of  men  come  to  be  better  under- 
stood they  are  found  to  echo  the  demand  that  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  American  Republic,  and  has  caused  it  to  be  so  suc- 
cessful through  its  first  century  of  existence — that  for  self- 
government.  The  instinctive  sense  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  in 
America  discovered  that  the  fault  of  the  Euroj)ean  was  too 
much  government — an  unwise  interference  with  interests  of 
whose  laws  he  was  more  or  less  ignorant.  Self-government 
would  permit  him  to  reduce  and  control  the  evil.  Experience 
has,  thus  far,  justified  his  position.  It  is  not  easj',  however, 
for  people  or  legislators  to  arrest  governmental  interference 
at  the  right  point,  and  American  history  gives  indications 
that  there  is  still  too  much  government. 

The  histoiy  of  the  business  interests  of  the  world  fully  sus- 
tains the  American  idea.  These  interests  are  thoroughly 
republican  and  demand  a  clear  field.  Business  may  be  read- 
ily disturbed  by  legislation  or  combined  action,  but  it  is  not 
so  easily  aided.  Its  laws  are  self-executing  and  operate  with 
full  efi"ect  only  when  left  to  their  freest  action.     Assistance, 


jm 


THE    DIFFICULTIES   ARISING    FEOM    OVER-PKODUCTION.       -447 

offered  with  the  best  motives,  often  introduces  confusion; 
restraint  produces  more  or  less  paralysis  in  some  part  of  the 
machinery  and  increases  the  evil.  All  departments  of  busi- 
ness have,  when  not  unnaturally  i-estrained,  a  healthy  power 
of  restoring  lost  equilibrium  and  of  reducing  to  due  and 
moderate  limits  any  excessive  action. 

So  the  misfortunes  arising  from  the  excessive  productive- 
ness of  the  Valley  are  to  be  most  readily  overcome  by  leaving 
its  agricultural  interests  to  self-government.  Left  free  to 
work  the  remedy,  they  will,  sooner  or  later,  produce  a  har- 
mony and  prosperity  which  no  effort  at  regulation  could 
reach. 

Over-production  in  certain  crops  tends  to  awaken  attention 
to  other  varieties  whose  products  are  in  demand.  If  one  crop 
does  not  pay  for  raising,  the  efforts  of  the  farmer  are  turned 
to  another  that  will,  by  the  certain  law  of  personal  interest. 
This  has  a  somewhat  narrow  play,  being  restricted  by  climate 
and  soil;  yet  great  changes  are  sometimes  produced  in  lim- 
ited periods,  and  the  inventive  and  enterprising  genius  of  the 
American  can  be  relied  on  to  secure  the  widest  possible  range, 
for  this  means  of  enlarging  variety  of  production  of  which 
the  case  admits. 

The  increase  of  the  non-agricultural  classes  in  the  Valley 
— enlarging  its  market  within  its  own  boundaries — we  have 
seen  to  be  an  actual  process  of  enlarging  profits  of  consider- 
able magnitude  between  1860  and  1870.  It  was  commenced 
by  causes  that  must  operate  more  and  more  powerfully,  within 
certain  limits,  for  a  long  time.  The  rapid  gathering  of  a  man- 
ufacturing and  trading  population  in  a  part  of  the  cities  and 
towns  of  the  West  has  been  one  of  its  most  marked  features 
since  the  war,  and  never  more  so,  perhaps,  than  in  the  three 
years  following  1870.  Somewhat  modified  by  the  financial 
embarrassment  of  1873  and  later,  it  can  notM'ell  tail  to  become 
a  permanent  feature  of  certain  regions  of  the  Valley. 

It  is  probable,  even,  that  the  more  moderate  and  steady 


44:8  THE  Mississipn  valley. 

prosperity  following  that  depression,  and  the  great  compe- 
tition, which  renders  comparatively  small  difterences  in  cost 
of  importance  to  the  otherwise  slight  margin  of  profit,  will 
hasten  the  transfer  of  many  hranches  of  industry  to  the  most 
suitable  points  of  this  favored  region.  As  population  gathers 
on  the  Pacific  Slope  and  spreads  through  the  valleys  and  basins 
of  the  broad  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  as  the  southern 
basin  of  the  great  Valley  grows  more  prosperous;  and  as  the 
wide  regions  of  the  Northwest  become  populous,  the  central 
States  of  the  Valley  will  fill  up  with  manufacturers  and  traders 
whose  customers  ai'e  found  in  all  these  regions.  The  business 
of  the  country,  within  certain  limits,  will  seek  it  as  the  most 
desirable  location  for  far-reaching  enterprises. 

All  this  will  help  to  solve  the  farmer's  problem  and  enable 
him  to  sell  cheap  at  a  good  profit.  His  customers  will  con- 
stantly increase  at  his  doors.  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati, 
Detroit,  Cleveland,  Pittsburgh,  Louisville,  and  a  thousand 
other  cities  and  towns,  will  rival  the  manufacturing  centers  of 
the  East,  and  might  far  outgrow  them  did  not  the  vast  com- 
merce of  the  Atlantic  stimulate  them  so  powerfullj'.  The 
home  market  will  grow  ever  larger,  although  better  methods 
of  farming  and  larger  cultivated  areas  are  sure  to  keep  pace 
with  it. 

The  spasmodic  expansion  of  the  railway  system,  between 
1865  and  1873,  will  not  occur  again.  It  opened  so  much  new 
and  remarkably  rich  agricultural  territory  that  required  little 
labor  to  develop  that  the  equilibrium  was  destroyed.  The  best 
lands  have  been  reached,  the  sudden  gush  of  the  unsealed  foun- 
tain will  settle  into  a  steady  flow,  whose  measure  can  be  cal- 
culated and  brought  within  the  operation  of  the  known  laws 
of  trade.  Increase  in  the  areas  cultivated  and  the  average 
production  will  be  easily  calculable  and  the  body  of  clear- 
sighted and  intelligent  agriculturists,  applying  these  same 
laws,  under  pressure  of  their  personal  interests,  will  not  expe- 
rience the  unmanageable  difficulties  of  the  past. 


FUTURE    OF    AGKICULTUKE    IN    DIFFEEENT    STATES.         449 

At  the  commencement  of  1876  a  general  estimate  of  the 
value  of  animals  in  connection  with  agriculture  in  the  United 
States  gave  the  Valley,  in  round  numbers,  an  investment  of 
one  thousand  million  dollars,  and  outside  of  it  six  hundred 
million  dollars.     The  averao-e  value  of  these  animals  outside 

o 

the  Valley  was  much  more  than  in  it.  Their  whole  number 
in  the  Valley  was  about  forty-four  million  and  out  of  it  only 
a  little  over  twenty  million — not  one  half  as  many. 

The  statistics  of  crops  in  1875  atibrd  some  interesting  con- 
clusions regarding  the  future  of  agriculture  in  diiferent  parts 
of  the  Valley.  As  the  country  advances  and  competition 
becomes  closer,  each  different  region  devotes  itself  more  and 
more  to  the  cultivation  of  those  crops  to  which  it  is  best 
adapted  and  from  which  it  can  obtain  the  largest  per  cent  of 
clear  profit.  Four  States  produced  more  than  one  third  of  all 
the  wheat  raised  in  the  whole  country  and  but  little  less  than 
half  of  that  raised  in  the  whole  Valley — Illinois,  Iowa,  Wis- 
consin and  Minnesota.  They  are  likely  in  the  end  to  raise 
two  thirds  of  the  wheat  crop  of  the  country,  since  the  relative 
quantity  increases  with  them  and  diminishes  in  the  other 
States. 

Three  States — Illinois,  Iowa  and  Missouri  produced  more 
than  one  half  the  corn  grown  in  the  whole  Valley,  and  with 
Kansas  are  likely  to  produce,  in  future,  nearly  two  thirds  of 
the  corn  crop  of  the  country.  The  southern  part  of  the 
Valley  is  likely  to  produce  more  than  one  half  of  the  re- 
mainder. 

The  cotton  crop  must  always  take  the  lead  in  Alabama, 
Mississippi  and  Arkansas  ;  sugar  in  Louisiana ;  Texas,  but 
slightly  developed  as  yet,  is  singularly  fortunate  in  rising 
from  the  sub-tropical  gulf  coast  through  all  gradations  to 
very  near  the  temperate  climate  of  the  upper  part  of  the 
Valley,  and  is  destined  to  acquire  immense  and  various  agri- 
cultural wealth;  Tennessee  and  Arkansas  are  similarly  favored 
within  a  smaller  range;  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Mich- 
29 


450  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

igan  seem  destined  to  miscellaneous  productions  of  food  for 
the  great  manufacturing  population  that  will  soon  be  gath- 
ered in  them.  The  upper  Missouri,  as  well  as  the  upper 
Mississippi,  will  devote  itself  largely  to  the  cultivation  of 
wheat. 

The  whole  agricultural  capabilities  of  the  Valley  lying  west 
of  the  western  boundary  of  Missouri  are  sure  to  be  required, 
at  no  distant  day,  and  in  all  the  future,  to  supply  the  large 
mining  and  manufacturing  population  that  will  gather  along 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Missouri,  south  of 
its  river,  and  Arkansas  will  require  more  than  their  own  food 
supplies  to  sustain  the  same  classes  gathered  in  their  limits, 
and  the  cereals  of  the  southern  Valley  will  never  fully  supply 
their  own  population.  Therefore,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Wisconsin, 
Minnesota  and  Texas  will  supply  almost  entirely  the  wants 
of  the  East  and  the  foreign  exports  of  food.  Indeed,  before 
the  close  of  the  second  century  of  American  Independence, 
the  Valley  will  scarcely  be  found,  as  now,  too  large  and  too 
bountiful  in  its  food  supplies,  though  they  were  multiplied, 
as  is  likely,  two  hundred  fold. 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

COMPARISON    OF    AGKICULTtTEE    AND    OTHER    INDUSTRIES. 

The  influence  of  America  has  considerably  changed  the  des- 
tinies of  the  world  by  developing  character,  by  working  out 
high  ideals,  and  by  emancipating  business  from  false  and  re- 
strictive principles.  In  no  particular  has  it  been  greater  than 
in  its  effect  on  the  welfare  of  agriculture  and  the  agriculturist. 
The  ease  with  which  traders  and  manufacturers  could  com- 
bine led  to  the  first  successful  efibrts  of  the  common  people — 
the  world's  reliance  as  workers — to  resist  the  despotism  of 
royal  and  aristocratic  power.  The  result  was  the  commercial 
Republics  of  Southern  Europe,  the  Communes  of  France  and 
the  Free  Cities  of  Germany.  The  increase  of  wealth  among 
the  people  and  the  power  it  gave  soon  added  another  to  the 
ruling  class. 

But  these  classes,  with  the  traders  and  craftsmen  added,  were 
still  small  compared  with  the  masses  of  the  people;  the  spirit 
of  the  aristocratic  classes  descended  among  tradesmen  and  man- 
ufacturers, and  a  small  part  of  them  soon  learned  to  monopolize 
the  fruits  of  other  men's  labors.  As  the  feudel  gentry  made 
and  kept  the  laborers  on  the  lands  serfs,  so  these  plebeian 
capitalists  reduced  the  operatives,  who  created  their  wealth  for 
them,  to  semi-slavery.  It  was  not  till  the  masses  of  a  nation 
could,  in  some  way,  be  made  capitalists  and  permanently  inde- 
pendent that  the  combined  oppression  of  position  and  wealth 
could  be  broken.  The  industries  of  Europe  commenced  a  good 
work  but  they  were  unable  to  complete  it;  for  power  in  the 
industrial  world  tended  to  concentrate  in  a  few  hands.  Instead 
•f  enlarging  popular  liberties  these  few  joined  with  the  royal 
and  aristocratic  classes  to  keep  the  remainder  of  the  people  on 
a  common  level  of  helpless  servitude.     The  powerful  classes 

451 


452  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

united  to  control  tlie  fate  of  the  laboring  classes  and  could 
oblige  them  to  accept  the  smallest  reward  for  their  labor  on 
which  they  couid  contrive  to  live  while  they  themselves  ap- 
propriated the  mass  of  profit.  Republics,  Communes  and 
Free  Cities,  in  general,  gave  up  independence,  in  the  course 
of  time,  to  concentrated  authority.  It  was  the  aristocracy  of 
commercial  wealth  that  so  bravely  and  successfully  resisted 
the  whole  power  of  Spain  and  established  the  United  Nether- 
lands; but,  independence  secured,  they  did  not  tend  toward  a 
true  democracy  and  drifted  back  to  a  centralized  government. 
Switzerland  maintained  an  imperfect  republic  from  its  citizens 
being  largely  agricultural.  The  lower  classes  were  united  with 
an  aristocracy  which  engrossed  a  large  share  of  power  in  the 
government. 

In  colonial  America  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  agricul- 
turists, and  so  the  citizens  of  the  States  have  ever  continued 
to  be.  That  this  has  continued  to  be  so  has  been  chiefly  due 
to  the  Valley,  and  the  breaking  down  of  class  rule  in  America 
has  hastened,  by  centuries,  the  political  enfranchisement  of 
the  world.  The  Valley  yielded  its  wealth  to  the  laboring 
millions.  The  farmers  who  fought  through  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  and  framed  the  institutions  of  the  new  nation 
allowed  the  widest  latitude  to  acquisition  and  political  influ- 
ence; so  that  personal  independence,  intelligence  and  wealth, 
first  of  all  countries,  became  the  inheritance,  in  tlie  United 
States,  of  the  producing  classes,  and,  from  its  larger  numbers^ 
of  the  class  engaged  in  agriculture.  The  nation  grew  into 
greatness  and  power  from  free  agriculture  as  a  principal  base. 
The  significance  of  the  result  is  illustrated  by  the  recent  his- 
tory of  France.  Its  land  laws  were  changed  during  its  terri- 
ble revolution,  and  its  peasants  gradually  became  proprietors. 
In  the  course  of  time  prosperity  and  intelligence  spread  widely 
among  the  people.  Its  ability  to  bear  reverses,  from  this  fact, 
has  recently  been  the  astonishment  of  the  world,  and  all  its 
monarchical  parties  combined  could  not  overthrow  a  republic 


PREPONDERANCE   OF   AGRICULTURE.  453 

which  sprung  up  in  the  crisis  of  the  greatest  calamity  of  its 
history. 

The  most  hopeful  feature  of  the  America  of  the  future  is 
the  general  tendency  of  the  number  of  laud  holdings  in  the 
United  States  to  increase.  The  cases  in  which  large  accumu- 
lations of  land  are  made  by  individuals  are  exceptional.  It 
is,  as  a  rule,  the  small  or  moderate  sized  farms  that  are 
most  profitable.  Too  much  land  is  apt  to  ruin  its  owner.  As 
in  all  other  things,  so  in  this,  the  Valley  is  impartial  and 
promotes  general  progress.  As  if  by  a  settled  law,  it  has  uni- 
formly discouraged  monopolies,  nor  does  there  seem  to  be  any 
reason  to  suppose  there  will  be  a  change  in  any  future  which 
can  now  be  foreseen.  The  South  lost  its  "  Cause  "  for  disre- 
garding this  principle  and  allowing  its  agriculture  to  favor  a 
kind  of  monopoly  of  the  soil  and  its  productions  by  a  contin- 
ually decreasing  class — that  is  relatively  decreasing.  Natural 
law  has  a  firm  control  of  the  Valley  and  of  the  political  econ- 
omy of  the  nation  through  it.  It  demands  free  labor,  declines 
to  encourage  a  servile  class  to  develop  its  resources,  and,  if 
labor  must  be  hired,  requires  that  it  be  honest,  hearty  and 
interested.  These  tendencies,  founded  in  the  general  situa- 
tion, are  far  better  than  agrarian  laws  and  fairly  assure  the 
intelligence  and  independence  of  all  future  generations.  The 
farmer  leads  a  life  too  healthy,  makes  his  gains  too  naturally, 
is  too  self-dependent  to  become  corrupt  and  the  class  will, 
undoubtedly,  always  be  strong  enough  to  control  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  other  classes. 

Agriculture  has  alw  ,ys  been  the  ruling  industry  in  the 
country  by  the  amount  of  wealth  it  produced,  and  notwith- 
standing the  immense  development  of  other  industries,  it  has 
ever  kept  its  distance  ahead  of  them.  As  the  summaries  of 
production  have  been  carefully  compiled  only  in  later  years, 
the  point  may  be  illustrated  by  studying  the  data  of  foreign 
exports  for  the  last  fifty  years.  Between  1825  and  1830,  the 
annual    average    of  agricultural    exports   was    $50,500,000. 


454  TUE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

Other  exports  were  inconsiderable  and  continued  to  be  so  even 
down  to  the  present,  never  rising  much  above  twenty-five  per 
cent  and  usually  falling  much  below  it.  Lately,  since  mining 
and  manufacturing  have  developed  to  unusual  proportions, 
the  values  they  send  abroad  by  many  new  channels  are  still 
less  than  twenty  per  cent  of  the  whole.  In  1874,  agricultural 
exports  were  valued  at  $548,300,000 — nearly  tenfold  the 
earlier  sum.  In  1875  it  was  $478,700,000  ;  yet  this  smaller 
sum  was  equal  to  four  dollars  for  every  acre  of  land  improved 
in  the  Valley. 

The  amount  of  export  per  head  of  the  whole  population 
of  the  United  States  was  $4.20  in  1825,  and  in  1875  more 
than  double  that  amount  for  the  vastly-increased  population, 
while  the  annual  average  of  export  from  1870  to  1875  was 
about  $16  per  head  of  all  the  population  of  the  Valley,  or  an 
average  of  about  $70  for  each  farm  in  the  Valley. 

Cotton,  though  increasing  sixfold  in  amount  since  1830, 
then  formed  fifty-five  per  cent  of  all  the  exports.  In  1874, 
it  was  but  39  per  cent.  The  Valley  States  produce  four  fifths 
of  all  the  cotton  and  more  than  the  amount  exported  ;  and, 
since  the  agriculture  outside  the  Valley  does  not  supply  the 
population  of  those  regions,  we  may  consider  all  these  exports 
as  being  virtually  from  the  Valley. 

Agricultural  exports  to  foreign  countries  have  steadily 
gained  on  the  increase  of  population  in  the  whole  United 
States  by  an  average  per  head  of  about  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents  for  each  ten  years  since  1825;  and  we  have  reason 
to  believe  that  the  increase  will  be  still  more  rapid  in  future. 
The  requirements  of  the  populations  of  Europe  beyond  their 
home  supplies  of  food  increase  year  by  year.  Steam  and  the 
telegraph  have  consolidated  the  business  of  the  civilized 
world,  and  a  strong  competition  requires  that,  for  a  complete 
and  permanent  success,  the  great  mass  of  each  of  the  indus- 
tries shall  be  carried  on  chiefly  in  the  region  most  favorable 
to  it,  and  where  the  facilities  are  so  superior  that  the  largest 


THE    INDUSTRIES   AND    THE   GEOWTH    OF    CITIES.  455 

quantity  may  be  produced  of  the  best  material  and  at  the 
cheapest  rate.  As  the  Valley  is  the  locality  where  the  most 
important  foods  can  be  produced  by  the  largest  use  of 
machinery,  and  in  unlimited  quantities,  it  is  sure  of  supplying 
the  increasing  demands  of  the  general  market. 

The  proportion  of  population  gathered  into  cities — and 
therefore  withdrawn  in  nearly  the  same  ratio  from  agricul- 
tural occupations — has  steadily  increased,  in  Europe  and  in 
the  United  States,  during  the  whole  course  of  the  present 
century.  In  1800,  about  one  thirtieth  of  the  people  of  the 
Republic  lived  in  cities;  in  1840,  one  twelfth;  in  1850,  one 
eighth;  in  1860,  one  sixth;  and  in  1870,  more  than  one  fifth. 
The  use  of  improved  agricultural  machinery  and  implements 
vastly  increases  the  power  of  production  while  allowing  the 
proportionate  number  of  producers  to  diminish. 

This  tendency  has  greatly  aided  to  solve  the  problem  of  the 
Western  farmer  and  will  continue  to  do  so  by  the  accummula- 
tion  of  a  non-agricultural  population  in  it.  It  is  not  proba- 
ble, however,  that  this  state  of  things  will  continue  when  the 
country  and  the  world  have  adjusted  themselves  to  the  new 
conditions  introduced  by  steam  machinery.  They  diminish 
the  comparative  numbers  required  in  all  the  industries  and 
probably  a  fairly  stable  equilibrium  will  soon  be  reached,  and 
it  seems  not  improbable  that  reforms  in  economic  and  social 
science  will  ultimately  reduce  the  unhealthy  concentration  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  on  a  few  square  miles. 
When  the  laws  of  material  prosperity  are  well  understood 
and  in  full  operation  there  will  be  abundant  opportunity  for 
progress  in  sanitary  science.  The  agricultural  population  will 
then  increase. 

The  product  of  all  the  mining  industries  in  1870  was  about 
$152,600,000,  and  probably  rose  later  to  $200,000,000  or 
more;  while  agricultural  products  reached  very  near  $2,500,- 
000,000  and  later,  probably,  to  fully  $3,000,000,000.  All  the 
mineral   treasures,   therefore,  were  but  one  fifteenth  of  the 


466  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

agricultural  in  value,  nor  is  that  proportion  likely  to  be 
exceeded.  Coal,  iron  and  many  other  minerals  will  be  pro- 
duced in  ever-increasing  quantity,  but  the  gifts  of  the  soil 
are  very  sure  to  grow  in  equal  ratio.  All  the  precious  metals 
produced  in  the  United  States  since  1848  have  been  estimated 
at  $1,500,000,000,  or  about  one  half  the  agricultural  income 
of  a  single  year.  The  best  gold  mine  is  the  soil  of  the  rich 
and  beautiful  Valley. 

Manufactures  furnish  a  large  class  of  growing  industries 
which  produce  enormous  results.  They,  however,  use  the 
materials  of  the  mines  and  the  products  of  the  soil  which  do 
not  nearly  double  in  value,  on  the  average,  in  the  change  they 
undergo.  The  value  of  manufactured  articles,  in  1870,  was 
$4,230,000,000;  of  this  the  crude  material  was  worth  $2,480,- 
000,000;  leaving  $1,740,000,000  of  value  added  as  the  true 
product  of  manufacture.  As  that  estimate  was  made  in  a 
period  of  exceptional  prosperity,  of  money  inflation  and  high 
prices,  we  may  probably  be  justified  in  considering  the  annual 
average  for  the  decade  following  1870  as  $1,500,000,000— not 
greatly  exceeding  one  half  the  results  of  agriculture. 

In  the  new  era,  so  full  of  enthusiastic  enterprise,  that  fol- 
lowed the  stress  and  strain  of  the  civil  war,  American  genius 
and  skill  proved  themselves,  in  the  line  they  followed,  supe- 
rior to  the  long  and  minute  training  of  the  European  artisan; 
and  the  generous  soil,  with  machinery  and  railroads  to  reduce 
the  costs  of  production  and  transportation,  enabled  America 
to  greatly  enlarge  her  trade  with  Europe.  The  increase  of 
exports,  in  the  ten  years  following  1868,  over  the  previous 
decade,  was  one  hundred  and  fifty -three  jyer  cent;  and  of  the 
$680,(380,000  of  entire  export  in  the  last  year  of  this  decade 
$592,470,000  were  agricultural  products,  leaving  less  than 
$90,000,000  as  the  export  of  manufactures  and  other  mate- 
rials, or  less  than  fifteen  per  cent.  Yet,  manufactures  are  so 
largely  supplying  our  own  country  that  less  and  less  are  im- 
ported every  year. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

COMMERCE    ON   THE    RIVERS    AND    LAKES. 

No  large  region  in  the  world  has  been  so  favored  as  the 
Mississippi  Valley  in  natural  commercial  highways  except 
the  countries  lying  about  the  Mediterranean  sea.  There  the 
character  of  the  outlines,  the  relations  of  the  regions  to  each 
other,  and  the  general  peculiarities  of  the  separate  countries, 
in  themselves,  indicated  that  it  was  the  office  of  the  water  high- 
way that  linked  them  together  to  promote  the  mutual  inter- 
course of  numerous  small  nations  and  thereby  favor  their 
progress  in  civilization.  It  separated  them  as  well  as  joined 
them;  it  formed  a  community  of  nationalities  which  were  to 
learn  from  and  stimulate  each  other.  It  did  not  favor  the  for- 
mation of  a  single  nation  out  of  the  whole.  Contact  could 
not  be  close,  intimate  and  permanent  enougli  for  that.  Yet, 
the  commerce  of  the  great  sea,  bordered  by  three  continents, 
brought  about  the  unity  and  progress  from  permanent  diver- 
sity of  elements  that  the  times  and  the  interests  of  humanity 
demanded. 

The  connections  instituted  by  the  water  highways  of  the 
great  Valley  tended  to  unity  the  human  development  and  its 
material  progress.  The  united  river  system,  the  level  surfaces 
and  gentle  slopes  made  it  impossible  to  separate  the  interests 
of  one  section  from  those  of  others  or  allow  isolation.  They 
must  mingle  as  do  their  waters.  The  great  interior  seas  of  the 
northern  border,  with  their  eastern  outlet,  pointed  significantly 
to  community  of  interests  and  close  relations  with  the  Atlantic 
Slope,  and  to  commerce  with  Europe.  The  whole  character 
of  the  northern  basin  of  the  Valley  both  adapted  it  to  such 
relations  and  invited  the  immigration  of  the  vigorous  nations 
of  the  temperate  climate.     It  oflfered  them  the  occupations, 

4,'37 


458  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  climate  and  the  products  with  whicn  they  were  most 
familiar,  which  promised  them  the  largest  degree  oi'  comfort 
and  the  greatest  measure  of  prosperity.  That  which  had  been 
proposed  by  nature  did  not  fail  to  be  realized  in  history;  the 
isolation  produced  by  distance  and  intervening  wildness  gave 
the  desired  continental,  or  peculiar  American,  tone  to  the 
population  by  the  vigor  with  which  this  fine  region  reacted 
on  the  pioneers;  and  eastern  relations  then  became  the  pre- 
dominant ones  with  the  upper  Valley.  After  the  Erie  and 
"Welland  canals  had  opened  the  channels  to  Atlantic  ports 
commerce  from  the  upper  Ohio  and  the  Northwest  flowed 
powerfully  in  that  direction,  and  the  railroads  were  afterward 
a  marvelous  success  because  it  was  the  natural  direction. 

This  course  of  the  commerce  of  the  most  fertile  and  tem- 
perate part  of  the  Valley  weakened  relations  with  the  southern 
basin  remarkably.  It  left  the  South,  with  its  unthrifty  labor 
system,  almost  to  itself.  Had  Florida  been  left  off  the  con- 
tinent the  comparative  fate  of  New  York  and  New  Orleans 
would  have  been  different;  and  a  similar  result — perhaps  a 
more  significant  one — would  have  followed  had  the  Alle- 
ghanies  continued  their  full  development  through  New  York 
and  confined  the  waterways  of  the  northern  Valley  to  outlets 
by  the  Mississippi  River. 

Thus,  the  Valley  has  two  parts  with  an  important  difference 
in  their  relations.  Historical  events,  or  the  great  industrial 
growth  of  the  free  States,  developed  the  Northwest  very  much 
sooner  than  the  lower,  or  central.  Valley.  Its  value  was  ap- 
parent, from  the  first,  as  the  most  promising  field  of  labor 
mankind  had  yet  inherited,  and  the  thriftiest  and  most  intel- 
ligently industrious  of  the  nations  at  once  set  to  work  to 
make  the  most  of  it.  The  railroad  came  to  the  help  of  steam 
at  the  right  time  and  pushed  its  growth  to  the  most  remark- 
able height. 

But  the  course  of  the  streams  and  the  relations  produced  by 
the  Gulf,  thrown  into  shade  for  the  time,  must  assert  their 


TEANSPOETATION    ON    THE    LAKES    AND    RIVERS.  459 

power  sooner  or  later.  It  was  the  misfortune  of  tlie  Southern 
Confederacy  and  its  labor  system  that  the  lake  system  and  the 
railroads  rendered  the  upper  Valley,  with  its  great  prepon- 
derance of  growth  on  the  Northeast,  tolerably  independent  of 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Gulf.  Had  the  lower  Valley,  at  that 
time,  opened  the  sources  of  her  power  and  wealth  as  fully  as 
the  upper  the  result  must  have  been  more  or  less  different. 
The  misfortune  of  having  slavery  in  the  South,  and  the  want 
of  development  in  the  countries  with  which  the  Gulf  naturally 
associated  it,  left  it  weak  in  population  and  resources.  Its 
hour  has  not,  even  yet,  come,  and  the  commerce  of  the  rivers 
has  given  but  a  faint  prophecy  of  its  destiny.  It  is  only  a 
question  of  time,  however,  which  the  force  of  natural  rela- 
tions renders  absolutely  certain. 

The  great  and  sudden  development  of  the  railroad  system 
broke  in  upon  the  slow  movement  that,  between  1804  and 
1850,  was  pushing  forward  the  interests  of  the  lower  Valley 
and  deferred  its  rise  to  its  due  prominence  at  least  half  a  cen- 
tury. The  general  data  of  commerce  on  the  lakes  and  rivers 
for  different  periods  are  very  expressive. 

The  whole  number  of  steamboats  built  for  the  western  and 
southern  rivers,  from  1819  to  1829,  included  a  capacity  of 
56,000  tons.  In  1817,  all  the  boats  then  floating  the  trade 
of  the  Ohio  were  estimated  to  have  a  capacity  of  2,000  tons 
annually.  The  capacity  must  have  been  70,000  in  1830.  The 
trade  on  the  Great  Lakes  was  chiefly  connected  with  furs 
or  the  transport  of  goods  for  Indian  traders,  prior  to  1825, 
when  the  Erie  canal  opened  a  channel  for  the  transit  of  com- 
merce to  the  Hudson  River.  About  20,000  tons  of  carrying 
capacity  was  then  eraplo3'ed  for  some  years,  chiefly  in  the 
transport  of  emigrants  and  their  goods  to  the  regions  near 
the  lakes.  The  commerce  of  the  lakes  and  canals  began,  after 
1835,  to  grow  rapidly.  The  Ohio  had  been  connected,  by  two 
canals  across  the  State  of  that  name,  with  Lake  Erie.  By  1840 
the  State  of  Ohio  exported,  by  canals  and  Lake  Erie,  nearly 


460  TUE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

4,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  and  in  1850  near  12,000,000 
bushels.  In  1842  the  steamboat  tonnage  of  the  lakes  and 
rivers  was  126,000,  and  including  flatboats,  barges  and  sail- 
ing vessels  about  150,000.  The  steam  marine  of  the  lakes 
and  rivers,  in  1851,  was  reported  at  765  vessels,  with  a  tonnage 
capacity  of  204,725.  The  ocean  coast  (Atlantic  and  Gulf) 
steam  marine  at  this  time  comprised  625  vessels,  of  212,500 
tonnage  capacity.  The  values  transported  on  the  lakes  in 
1851  were,  by  careful  estimate  for  that  year,  stated  at  $326,- 
590,000.  Estimates  for  the  trade  of  the  rivers  of  the  Valley, 
for  1850,  made  it  amount  to  $350,000,000.  This  would  give 
the  entire  amount  of  lake  and  river  trade,  in  1851,  at  very 
near  $700,000,000. 

As  no  absolutely  accurate  figures  were  obtainable,  in  those 
days,  the  amount  of  values  transported  can  only  be  approx- 
imated. The  perfectly  free  and  unembarrassed  internal 
commerce  of  this  happy  region  enjoys  a  rare  immunity  from 
government  interference.  The  amount  of  commercial  ex- 
changes has  been  made  note  of,  however,  by  boards  of  trade 
in  later  times,  and  by  records  of  tonnage  transported  on  rail- 
roads. Values  of  property  are,  however,  matters  of  estimate 
still, although  extended  experience  has  given  them  fair  accuracy. 
At  this  time  railroads  entered  largely  into  internal  com- 
merce and  quite  changed  the  fate  of  waterways — both  river 
and  lake. 

In  1876,  the  amount  of  property  annually  transported  on 
railroads  in  the  United  States  was  estimated  at  $10,000,000,000 ; 
that  conveyed  in  vessels  on  the  lakes  and  rivers  at  $750,000,000 ; 
and  on  canals  at  $500,000,000;  which  carries  up  the  sum  of 
the  values  transported  on  these  internal  public  highways  to 
$11,250,000,000. 

This  intimates  that,  on  the  whole,  the  commerce  of  the 
rivers  and  lakes  continued  about  the  same  for  twenty-five 
years;  the  entire  immense  gain  during  that  time  being  ab- 
sorbed by  the  railroad  system.     For   this  there  were  many 


COST   OF    CAKKIAGE    BT  WATER    AND    BY  RAILWAYS.         461 

reasons.  The  capacity  of  water  transport  was  limited  at  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Valley  by  the  necessity  of  using  canals  ; 
greater  speed  and  elasticity  of  accommodation  was  found  in 
the  railroads,  combined  with  great  cheapness  where  an  im- 
mense business  was  concerned  ;  only  that  system  could 
accommodate  trade  at  all  seasons;  and  the  bars  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi,  the  heated  waters  of  the  gulf,  and  the 
perils  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  with  the  length  of  the  route, 
turned  the  vast  products  of  the  northern  Valley  eastward  by 
rail. 

Other  things  being  equal,  water  transportation  must  be 
cheapest  for  gross  freight  which  is  not  required  to  hurry. 
The  value  of  all  the  shipping  required  to  accommodate  a 
foreign  commerce  amounting  annually  to  about  $1,300,000,000 
has  been  estimated  at  $200,000,000;  while  the  cost  of  all  the 
railroads,  conveying  values  ten  times  as  great,  is  stated  at 
about  $4,500,000,000,  or  more  than  twenty-two  times  as  much, 
and  the  annual  losses  and  repairs  required  are  many  times 
greater  in  proportion.  While  there  were  large  margins  to 
permit  disregard  of  this  greater  dearness  of  railroad  trans- 
portation and  other  imperative  reasons  for  overlooking  the 
water  routes,  the  rivers  and  lakes  were  necessarily  neg- 
lected. It  is,  however,  apparently  but  a  question  of  time 
when  their  fullest  use  will  be  resumed. 

It  is  a  constant  law,  arising  from  the  imperfection  of  hu- 
man wisdom  and  foresight,  that  business  shall  tend  to  lose 
its  equilibrium — to  fall  into  excesses  that  derange  it  greatly. 
There  is  another  law,  however,  that  takes  care  for  its  read- 
justment from  time  to  time.  It  is  like  machinery  that  should 
be  in  the  long  run  self-adjusting,  but  permits  disturbances  to 
accumulate  to  a  certain  point  before  the  restorative  process 
is  commenced.  These  periods  of  readjustment  of  disturbed 
balances  are  commenced  by  what  is  called  a  financial  crisis, 
and  while  the  restorative  work  is  going  on  the  machinery 
moves  languidly.     It  usually  requires  some  years  of  depres- 


462  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

sion  to  conquer  the  difficulty,  but  when  it  is  overcome  there 
is  a  new  series  of  situations;  harmony  is  more  exact  and  a 
fresh  period  of  great  prosperity  follows.  During  the  periods 
of  oscillation,  the  particular  laws  more  especially  violated  be- 
come clearer;  men  learn  what  they  are  and  how  to  avoid  their 
penalties,  and  so  progress  goes  on.  In  due  time  these  dis- 
turbances will  become  more  rare  and,  perhaps,  in  the  distant 
future  will  cease  altogether. 

There  has  been  vast  loss  on  railroads  in  the  Valley  because 
of  their  excessive  cost  and  the  inability  of  their  business  to 
meet,  immediately,  all  the  conditions  of  corporate  prosperity. 
Greater  economy  will  be  employed  in  the  end,  and  they  will, 
perhaps,  be  confined  to  the  kinds  of  transportation  that  will 
pay  best.  Yet  they  now  pay  in  some  form  and  public  aid 
comes,  very  largely,  to  the  rescue  of  individual  capital.  But 
a  gradual  revision  of  methods  and  change  of  economy  must 
be  made  when  large  new  sources  of  wealth  cease  to  be  found 
and  waterways,  which  transport  in  larger  masses  with  less 
capital  and  cost  for  repairs,  will  lend  all  the  aid  to  commerce 
of  which  they  are  capable.  The  amount  of  trade  movement, 
vast  as  it  now  seems,  is  but  a  trifle  to  what  it  will  be  in  years 
to  come,  and  while  railroads  will  continue  to  multiply,  they 
will  require  the  aid  of  every  available  water  channel  to  keep 
the  passages  to  and  from  the  Valley  from  choking  up. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  true  growth  of  commerce  on 
the  lakes  and  rivers  has  not  yet  commenced.  From  1820 
to  1850  it  was  a  mere  trial;  after  1850  it  was  continued  as  a 
collateral  of  railroad  transportation,  and  so  it  still  remains. 
Its  future  may  be  supposed  to  have  the  massiveness  and  grand 
proportions  which  the  lakes,  the  rivers  and  the  Gulf  bear  to 
the  Valley  whose  uses  they  were  designed  to  serve.  The  uses 
to  which  natural  forces  were  destined  may  lie  unimproved 
while  the  corresponding  development  of  mankind  and  their 
interests  fail;  but  still  these  forces  are  a  prophecy  of  wliat  is 
yet  to  be,  and  their  time  of  service  will  ultimately  come. 


THE    FUTURE    OF    WATEE-WAYS.  463 

These  valuable  natural  channels  will  some  day  bear  the  heavy 
burdens  of  commerce  and  the  railways  will  transport  its  lighter, 
more  costly,  frail  and  less  bulky  materials,  and  collect  from 
the  interiors,  to  the  streams,  the  general  fruits  of  industry. 
All  obstructions  in  the  river  channels  will  be  set  aside,  ample 
outlets  from  the  lakes  eastward  will  be  provided,  and  scores  of 
billions  of  value  in  merchandise  will  be  found  floating  out  of 
and  into  this  fruitful  region. 

But  this  great  result  has  still,  apparently,  to  wait  for  gener- 
ations before  it  can  be  fully  realized.  The  South  must  reach 
her  natural  development — so  long  delayed ;  the  West  Indies, 
Mexico,  the  Central  and  South  American  States,  must  reach 
the  degree  of  general  prosperity,  of  social  order  and  indus- 
trial activity  assigned  them  by  the  resources  they  can  com- 
mand; the  rich  traffic  of  the  Pacific  and  Eastern  Asia  must 
pour  through  the  ship  canal  which  is  to  join  the  great  ocean 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  When  all  this  great  industrial  devel- 
opment has  been  acquired  in  the  neighboring  countries  the 
Mississippi  will,  perhaps,  be  too  small  for  the  vast  burden  of 
values  with  which  the  immense  trade  then  existing  will  have 
to  deal.  The  passengers,  the  fruits,  the  delicate  goods  and 
materials  required  in  haste,  will  then  seek  the  railroad;  but 
the  river  will  float  an  unimagined  quantity  of  the  more  solid 
results  of  agriculture  and  manufactures  to  the  sea. 

The  9,000  miles  of  navigable  streams,  the  3,000  miles  of 
lake  shore,  and  the  long  line  of  Gulf  coast,  will  then  serve  the 
same  purposes  of  foreign  commerce  that  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  coasts  do  now.  These  waterways,  so  large  and  long, 
will  then  join  the  interior  of  the  continent  with  the  active 
world  without,  as  thev  were  designed  to  do,  and  the  center 
of  the  Valley  will  be,  industrially  and  commercially,  the  cen- 
ter of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DIRECT    FOREIGN    COMMERCE    OF   THE   VALLEY. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  has  been  the  providence  of  the 
American  Republic.  Binding  it  together  through  a  common 
ownership,  common  settlement  and  a  common  development 
of  its  vast  wealth,  all  classes  in  the  East,  but  especially  the 
manufacturers,  the  traders,  the  capitalists,  and  the  shrewd 
speculators,  have  been  enriched  by  it.  Few  walks  in  the 
general  business  life  of  the  East  have  failed  to  draw  a  large 
part  of  their  profit,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  the  overflow- 
ing abundance  of  this  region.  The  people  of  the  West  sup- 
plied cheap  provisions  to  the  manufacturing  classes  and  bought 
their  wares  with  the  price  heightened  by  a  protective  tariff. 
Merchants  imported  foreign  goods,  re-sold  them  at  a  profit  in 
the  interior,  and  bought  agricultural  products  to  export — with 
a  profit.  Capitalists  and  bankers  invested  and  loaned  to  reap 
hundreds  of  millions  in  interest  and  the  rise  of  values. 

But  in  no  way  has  the  country  been  more  benefited  by  the 
Valley  than  in  its  contributions  to  commerce.  The  bulk  of 
the  exports  which  were  to  pay  for  imports  have  been  from  the 
northern  or  southern  Valley.  The  cotton,  which  long  formed 
fully  one  half  of  the  exports,  was  largely  produced  in  the 
lower  Valley,  and  half  the  remainder  of  the  values  ex- 
ported was  from  the  grain  regions  of  the  West.  In  more 
recent  times,  manufactures  enter  largely  into  export  trade  ; 
but  the  increase  in  articles  of  food  has  gained  in  still  larger 
proportions.  The  most  of  that  which  produced  balances  in 
European  exchange,  or  drew  money  from  abroad,  was  due  to 
the  Valley. 

So  great  has  been  the  favorable  reaction  of  the  West  on  the 
East  by  the  impulse  given  its  manufactures,  commerce  and 

464 


THE    RELATIONS    OF    THE    EAST    AND    THE    WEST.  465 

trade,  that  Eastern  cities-  have  increased  in  population  since 
1S30,  at  about  one  half  the  ratio  of  the  cities  of  the  West, 
although  millions  annually  emigrated  from  East  to  West. 
Almost  one  half  the  capitalized  wealth  of  the  country  has  ac- 
cumulated in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  although  they 
have  but  little  over  one  tlfth  of  the  population.  As  they  are 
owners  of  niucli  property  in  the  Valley  the  ditierence  is  much 
greater  than  appears  from  the  censu.->. 

Tlie  surplus  produce  of  the  West  has  gone  to  the  East  and 
through  it  to  foreign  markets  and  paid  a  hea\y  profit  to 
the  East  for  handling;  this  profit  has  been  reinvested  in,  or 
reloaned  to,  the  West  at  extraordinarily  higli  rates  with  the 
effect  of  compound  interest.  The  West  has  been  in  so  great 
a  hurry  to  lay  its  foundations  and  reach  its  true  productive 
period  and  the  advantageous  condition  of  an  old  country  that 
it  has  not  stopped  to  calculate  and  bargain,  in  the  interest  of 
economy,  for  its  own  section.  It  has  hastily  taken  all  the  aid 
it  could  get  at  whatever  usurious  rates.  By  so  doing  it  has 
gained  many  years  of  progress  but  poured  the  larger  part  of 
its  earnings  into  the  lap  of  the  East.  The  child  has  richly 
endowed  the  parent  in  this  process;  it  now  remains  for  it  to 
attend  more  shrewdly  to  its  own  interests. 

This  it  is  partly  prepared  to  do  by  producing  a  considerable 
portion  of  its  own  manufactures,  and  the  next  step  is  to  carry 
on  as  much  of  its  own  commerce  as  possible.  As  an  interior 
region,  it  can  do  this  only  in  part,  the  superiority  of  the 
Atlantic  ports  being  absolute;  yet  it  has  great  outlets  on  the 
north  and  south  which  have  been  almost  unused  for  purposes 
of  foreign  trade.  It  has  furnished  about  four  fifths  of  the 
exports  of  the  whole  country  and  will,  perhaps,  keep  up  that 
proportion;  if  it  do  its  own  business  on  its  ovvn  capital  it 
will,  in  time,  become  as  superior  in  accumulated  property 
as  it  is  in  population  and  compass  of  resources. 

The  changes  that  are  preparing  to  this  end  lie  partly  in  the 
transfer  of  manufactures  which  enable  it  to  accumulate  float- 
30 


466  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ing  capital  ;  partly  in  the  opening  of  the  South  to  general 
industry  and  development  by  putting  away  the  slave-labor 
system ;  and  partly  in  the  development  of  the  countries  nearest 
the  Gulf  ports  and  the  mouth  of  the  great  river  to  such  a 
degree  that  profitable  exchanges  can  be  made  on  a  vast  scale. 
Other  changes  lie  in  the  future  and  will,  apparently,  be  wide- 
reaching.  Among  these  is  probably  a  resuscitation  of  direct 
commerce  with  Europe  from  the  great  lakes  and  from  the 
river. 

The  St.  Lawrence  was  made  to  be  used,  and  the  Upper 
Mississippi,  the  Missouri  and  the  Ohio  were  not  united  in 
the  center  of  the  Valley,  forming  the  broadest  commercial 
highway,  without  an  important  purpose.  These  channels, 
both  leading  to  the  outside  world  from  a  region  that,  more 
than  any  other  on  any  continent,  is  entitled  to  be  called  the 
World's  Granary — are  the  cheapest  and  most  natural  outlets 
for  the  boundless  supplies  of  food  the  world  needs,  and  the 
requirements  of  the  Valley  farmer  can  never  be  fairly  met 
till  they  are  fully  in  use. 

When  an  adequate  population  has  developed  all  the  natural 
industries  of  the  Gulf  States,  the  massive  volume  of  excess 
will  press  southward  to  the  sea.  The  channel  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River  will  be  improved;  all  the  20,000  miles  of  interior 
water-ways,  formerly  said  to  be  accessible  from  New  Orleans, 
will  be  laden  with  the  rich  products  of  an  inexhaustible  soil 
drawn  from  it  by  the  wise  industry  and  economy  of  fifty  or  a 
hundred  million  agriculturists;  the  then  well-ordered  so- 
ciety of  the  rich  islands  of  the  Gulf  will  supply  material  for  an 
immense  trade;  the  mines  and  plateaus  of  Mexico  will  fiour- 
ish  as  now  do  those  of  California  and  Nevada;  the  trade  of  the 
re-organized  Central  and  South  American  States  will  reach 
fabulous  sums,  and  no  unimportant  marine  tonnage  will  fetch 
and  carry  between  St.  Louis  and  London. 

The  energy  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  race  is  supplemented,  in 
America,  by  a  most  valuable  insentive  genius,  and  intelligent 


THE    VALLEY    AND    THE    ISTHMUS    SHIP   CANAL.  467 

skill  in  reaching  the  broadest  and  highest  ends  in  every  line 
of  activity.  The  Yalley  has  received  a  large  share  of  the 
very  best  part  of  this  special  ability  and  affords  the  highest 
degree  of  stimulus  in  every  way  besides  giving  it  the  largest 
field.  When  the  wide  areas  of  the  Valley  itself  are  well 
explored  and  all  its  resources  are  fully  opened  the  energy  of 
this  race  will  find  ample  scope  in  the  basin  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  south  and  west  of  it,  and  by  an  isthmus  ship  canal 
with  the  vast  trade  of  the  Pacific.  The  Spanish  Ameri- 
cans will  not  be  left  alone  to  work  out,  slowly  and  painfully, 
by  their  Creole  and  native  races,  the  high  civilization  and 
great  industrial  prosperity  for  which  their  countries  were 
formed.  America  is  as  aggressive  as  is  England;  but  its 
aggressiveness  is  directed  against  false  systems  of  thought,  of 
industry  and  economy.  The  vast  activities  that  have  done  so 
much  for  the  Valley  itself,  in  one  generation,  will  soon  begin 
to  overflow  its  boundaries  to  stimulate  and  guide  the  thought 
and  industry  of  its  immediate  neighbors.  This  activity  will 
be  to  the  advantage  of  the  foreign  trade  of  the  Valley.  The 
precious  woods  and  valuable  agricultural  products  of  the  trop- 
ical regions  around  the  Gulf  will  find  markets  so  large  and  prof- 
itable that  Americans  will  work  them  if  their  careless  owners 
will  not;  the  great  valley  of  the  Amazon  will  become  an  ap- 
pendage of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  commercially,  through  the 
Orinoco,  with  which  its  waters  are  connected;  the  trade  of 
Peru,  Bolivia  and  Chili  will  be  tapped  for  St.  Louis  by  the 
isthmus  canal;  and  the  teas,  silks  and  spices  of  Eastern  Asia 
and  the  East  Indies  will  be  imported  directly  to  the  heart  of 
the  United  States. 

Long  before  this  system  of  direct  connections  with  new 
fields  of  colossal  commerce  shall  have  been  entirely  opened 
the  internal  business  of  the  country  will  have  become  too 
heavy  for  the  railroad  system  alone,  and  every  possible  use 
will  be  made  of  the  rivers  and  lakes.  It  may  never  be  felt 
desirable,  by  our  relatives  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  to  form 


468  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

a  consolidated  political  union  with  the  Great  Republic;  but 
its  material  prosperity  is  indissolubly  linked  with  it.  Shar- 
ing with  it  the  Great  Lakes  and  controlling  the  St.  Lawrence, 
with  a  vast  interior  continuation  of  the  Valley  beyond  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi  as  valuable  as  Minnesota  and 
Dakota,  its  natural  industrial  and  commercial  connections 
are  with  the  Valley.  The  lakes  and  the  Mississippi  will 
necessarily  be  called  on  to  bear  off  its  surplus  produce. 

So  great  an  accumulation  of  material  for  transportation  to 
the  foreign  world  will  irresistibly  press  the  Valley  to  direct 
foreign  trade.  The  premonitory  symptoms  of  this  new  depar- 
ture are  already  visible,  in  the  clearing  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  and  incipient  organizations  along  the  river  for 
direct  foreign  trade.  Beginnings  are  slow  and  difficult  where 
antagonistic  interests  are  to  be  set  aside,  but,  when  fairly 
inaugurated,  the  characteristic  zeal  and  impetuous  rush  of 
western  enterprise  will  develop  them  with  great  rapidity. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    STIMULANTS   TO    EDUCATION    SINCE   THE   WAK. 

Great  events  which  deeply  stir  the  minds  of  men,  and 
especially  such  as  awaken  a  new  sense  of  power  and  open  a 
brighter  promise  of  the  fnture,  have  always  acted  favorably 
on  general  education.  They  awaken  a  new  sense  of  the 
resources  lying  nnused  in  human  thought.  The  Crusades 
stirred  up  Europe  to  a  new  learning;  the  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica, accompanied  by  the  conquest  of  the  ocean  and  new  worlds, 
started  up  innumerable  schools  of  learning;  while  the  knowl- 
edge and  experience  gained  by  the  untaught  common  adven- 
turers had  something  of  the  influence  of  a  liberal  education  ; 
the  excitement,  the  discussion  and  the  new  experiences  of 
the  revolutionary  period  were  a  practical  education  to  tiie 
new  nation — enlarging  and  elevating  the  mind. 

The  civil  war  was  peculiarly  instructive  and  stimulating 
to  American  thought.  The  prolonged  attention  given  to 
American  theories  and  politics  made  the  people  more  familiar 
with  the  principles  and  history  of  their  own  government 
than  anything  else  could.  They  came  out  of  the  war  with 
definite  conceptions,  with  a  lively  sense  of  capacity  and  clear 
views  of  great  results  to  be  obtained.  Necessity  stimulated 
the  minds  of  the  Southern  people  and  enthusiasm  moved  the 
Northern.  A  new  and  more  stable  union  of  the  sections,  a 
larger  and  more  rapid  progress,  and  a  more  comprehensive 
public  and  private  prosperity  were  presented  as  inspiring 
hopes  before  most  minds.  The  impulse  it  gave  to  energy 
fulfilled  the  hope ;  experience  and  reflection  led  to  wise 
measures  ;  and  the  absorbing  attention  given  to  public  events, 
their  causes  and  consequences,  made  the  nation  far  more 
intelligent  than  it  had  ever  been  before.     It  had  much  the 

469 


470  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAIiLEY. 

effect  of  an  educational  course  on  the  people,  drawing  into 
action  their  latent  mental  power.  Never  before,  among  any 
people,  was  there  so  much  reading,  so  much  thinking,  so 
much  of  intelligent  conclusion  from  what  was  read  and 
thought.  The  influence  of  the  war  was  an  education  itself, 
in  American  principles  and  affairs,  and  left  the  people  in  a 
far  higher  and  more  favorable  mental  condition  than  it  found 
them. 

The  great  development  of  material  interests  that  had 
already  begun  in  the  North  and  would  soon  begin  in  the 
South  carried  on  this  awakened  tendency.  Science  entered 
on  a  more  active  career  and  took  charge  of  many  important 
departments  which  had  before  been  committed  to  compara- 
tively ignorant  hands.  The  demand  for  thorough  familiarity 
with  some  of  its  branches  in  order  to  fitness  for  positions  of 
trust  became  constantly  more  imperative.  The  conduct  of 
business  on  an  immense  scale,  the  precision  and  self-com- 
mand required  in  the  control  of  machinery,  in  railroad  em- 
ployes generally,  and  more  or  less  in  most  branches  of 
business,  required,  and  by  practice  gave,  a  technical  education 
and  much  of  mental  training  to  large  masses  of  workmen. 
When  acquired  simply  in  routine  practice  alone  it  was,  in 
itself,  an  education,  so  much  breadth  of  knowledge,  self- 
command  and  accuracy  of  attention  and  action  were  required. 
All  these  developed  character.  They  did  not  allow  the  work- 
men to  remain  simply  machines,  so  much  responsibility  for 
general  results  was  devolved  on  all  the  individuals  employed 
to  produce  them. 

In  this  respect,  the  wide  range  of  industry  and  activity 
required  by  the  vast  business  of  late  years  is  of  signal  benefit 
to  the  laboring  classes.  The  railroad  system  which  employs 
so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  on  its  extended  lines, 
throwing  each  on  his  own  responsibility  for  the  intelligent 
co-operation  that  must  produce  precise  results,  is  a  striking 
example  of  the  new  dignity  which  industrial  progress  is  con- 


EDUCATIONAL    POWER    OF    MODERN    ACTIVITY.  471 

ferring  on  the  laborer.  Formerly,  the  laborer  was  an  unin- 
telligent machine;  all  important  responsibility  was  laid  on 
the  intelligent  superintendent,  and  comprehensive  intelli- 
gence in  the  laborer  was  not  required.  As  labor  is  general- 
ized and  brought  into  harmony  with  great  natural  forces  and 
laws,  the  laborer  is  required  to  be  also  a  thinker;  and  the  wider 
the  mental  range,  the  more  accurate  the  knowledge,  the  better 
the  duty  is  performed.  He  must  not  only  know  how  and  when 
to  act  personally,  but  how  others  should  act  that  he  may 
adjust  his  action  to  theirs.  This  demand  for  intelligence, 
this  dividing  of  responsibility  for  results  among  all  the  em- 
ployes, is  a  constantly  enlarging  process,  and  in  the  same 
degree  develops  independent  knowledge,  mental  discipline 
and  reliability.     These  imply  a  practical  education. 

At  the  same  time  the  barriers  to  observation  are  being 
thrown  down.  The  railroad  and  the  steamer  are  making 
men  acquainted  with  each  other,  filling  their  thoughts  with 
comparisons,  begetting  ideals  prompting  to  improvement; 
the  electric  telegraph  and  the  newspaper  are  employed  in  mak- 
ing observations  in  every  part  of  the  world  and  in  taking  all 
men  into  their  confidence.  Every  event  of  importance  is 
immediately  known  over  the  whole  civilized  world,  men  take 
a  silent  view  of  the  world's  work  of  the  day  before  every 
morning  if  they  choose — and  most  true  Americans  in  active 
life  choose. 

Comprehensive  activity  is  more  and  more  the  rule;  opera- 
tions as  well  as  observation  take  an  ever  wider  range;  local 
interests  are  more  and  more  afiected  by  distant  events,  and 
associated  with  many  interests  on  the  other  side  of  the  world, 
or  in  distant  places.  The  activity  of  the  American  is  naturally 
intense;  he  is  absorbed  in  his  aims  and  attentive  ti)  all  that 
afiects  them.  Therefore,  the  laborer,  the  artisan,  the  farmer, 
watch  and  study  the  direction  of  events  that  may  atfect  their 
personal  welfare.  They  read,  discuss,  become  original  politi- 
cians, financiers  and  theorists.     Life  grows  intense  while  its 


472  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

ephere  widens;  earnestness  of  attention  to  wide  relations  and 
distant  occurrences  has  the  force  of  an  education,  or,  at  least, 
it  stimulates  ever  larger  numbers  to  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  formation  of  a  personal  judgment  that  imply 
an  education  or  drawing  out  of  the  powers  of  the  mind.  The 
activities  of  the  last  generation  have  done  much  more,  prob- 
ably, to  really  educate  the  mass  of  Americans  than  all  the 
instruction  of  the  schools.  They  have  formed  a  practical 
impressive  and  very  intelligible  course  of  education.  This 
practical  appreciation  of  the  value  of  knowledge  among  the 
adult  population  inclined  them  to  reading,  and  the  lively 
interest  awakened  in  public  events  did  not  decline  after  the 
war.  The  general  news  was  freely  circulated  by  conversa- 
tion and  discussion  even  among  those  who  seldom  read.  Tlie 
newspapers  published  in  the  Valley,  in  1860,  numbered  2,000, 
and  3,000  in  1870,  the  rest  of  the  country  having  2,800.  The 
annual  issues  of  all  the  papers  of  the  Valley,  in  1870,  was 
about  6,000,000  to  14,000,000  in  the  whole  country.  The 
whole  number  of  cojjies  issued  in  tlie  year  in  the  Valley 
was  525,000,000  to  1,500.000,000  in  the  wliole  of  the  United 
States.  The  East  contains  the  commercial,  the  literary  and 
the  political  metropolis  The  writers  and  puljlishers  of  the 
East  find  a  large  part  of  their  readers  in  the  West — the  pub- 
lishing in  the  Valley  being  mainly  lur  tlie  supply  of  local 
wants.  The  enterprise  of  the  Valley  does  not  allow  its  infor- 
mation to  get  out  of  date. 

The  census  marshals  of  1870  found  164,000  libraries  of 
books  in  the  United  States,  100,000  of  which  they  credited 
to  the  Valley;  but,  if  more  numerous,  they  were  naturally 
smaller  by  a  large  average.  Of  43,0()O,OU0  volumes  in  all  the 
libraries  of  the  country  but  20,000,000  were  found  in  the  Val- 
ley. Many  of  them  were  of  recent  date  and  more  valuable 
to  the  masses  of  the  people  from  having  a  smaller  number  of 
old  books  rarely  consulted.  Of  56,000  libraries,  other  than 
private,  in  the  country,  24,000  were  in  the  Valley,  containing 


LIBRARIES    AND    CHURCHES    IN    THE    VALLEY.  473 

but  6,000,000,  out  of  the  19,000,000  volumes  in  them  all  In 
1875  the  Bureau  of  Education  reported  250  public  libraries 
ul  300  volumes  and  over,  established  in  various  parts  of  the 
Valley  since  1870,  which  contained,  in  the  aggregate,  nearly 
500,000  volumes. 

The  number  of  church  edifices  in  the  Valley  in  1870,  was 
34,030,  with  10,346,472  sittings,  at  a  cost  of  $121,300,000— 
the  whole  country  having  72,000  churches,  21,600,000  sittings, 
and  its  church  property  being  valued  at  $354,000,000.  The 
newer  regions  of  the  West  supply  religious  instruction  to 
large  numbers — possibly  to  some  millions — without  edifices 
specially  devoted  to  that  object.  The  average  cost  of  churches 
in  the  East  is  nearly  nine  thousand  dollars  and  in  the  Valley 
about  three  thousand  five  hundred.  The  Valley,  as  a  whole, 
may  be  considered,  relatively,  fairly  well  supplied  with  the 
means  of  moral  education. 

All  these  instruments  of  intelligence  are  perhaps  exceeded, 
for  the  purposes  of  the  present  generation,  by  social  inter- 
course, by  constant  discussion,  by  the  educating  power  of 
experience  and  observation.  The  study  of  American  institu- 
tions and  ideas  during  a  period  of  crisis  so  great  and  interest- 
ing gave  a  special  clearness  of  insight  to  the  citizens  who  re- 
constructed it  on  a  broader  base  and  gave  it  a  more  perfect 
development  and  unity.  In  spite  of  all  the  faults  they 
committed,  future  generations  will  look  back  at  them  with 
admiration  and  reverence,  for,  to  them,  the  faults  will  appear 
comparatively  small  and  the  service  they  rendered  really 
large. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE    WONDERFUL    PKOGRESS    OF    POPULAR   EDUCATION. 

When  the  armies  were  disbanded  at  the  close  of  the  war 
the  expenditures  and  energy  that  had  been  required  to  support 
it  were  immediately  turned  to  the  great  enterprises  of  peace. 
Manufactures,  internal  commerce  and  education  gained  in 
magnitude  and  force  in  a  few  years  quite  as  much  as  in  the 
entire  past  career  of  the  Republic.  Between  1860  and  1870 
the  capital  employed  in  manufactures  increased  from  one 
thousand  and  nine  million  dollars  to  two  thousand,  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  million.  From  28,000  miles,  in  1860,  the 
lines  of  railway  open  to  traffic  had  increased  to  62,000,  in 
1872,  and,  in  1870,  the  values  transported  in  the  internal  com- 
merce of  the  country  were  double  those  of  1865.  The  prop- 
erty valuation  of  the  country  ascended  from  sixteen  thousand 
million  dollars,  in  1860,  to  thirty  thousand  million  in  1870, 
notwithstanding  the  vast  destruction  and  expense  of  the  war 
and  throwing  out  of  property  valuation  nearly  four  million  of 
the  colored  population  of  the  country.  The  comparison  of 
funds  devoted  to  educational  purposes  is  still  more  striking. 
In  1860  the  expenditure  for  schools  of  all  kinds  in  the  United 
States  was  thirty-four  million  dollars;  in  1870  it  amounted  to 
ninety-five  million. 

When  it  is  considered  how  vast  were  the  sums  withdrawn 
from  the  available  capital  of  the  country  by  the  war,  and  how 
many  embarrassments,  that  might  have  been  expected  to  crip- 
ple its  progress,  sprang  from  that  wasteful  contest,  it  will  not 
seem  exaggeration  to  say  that  a  new  ei'a  of  unaccustomed 
strength  and  rapidity  of  development  dated  from  its  close. 
The  eflective  force  of  American  ideas,  enterprise  and  energy 
seemed  to  have  been  at  least  quadrupled.     There  was  a  rush  of 

474 


GROWTH    OF    SCHOOL    EEVENUES    IN    TEN    YEAES.  475 

prosperity  for  the  first  eight  years,  which  placed  the  country 
in  a  new  position.  The  rills  and  modest  streams  had  sud- 
denly expanded  into  mighty  rivers.  If  they  then  ceased  to 
overflow  their  sources  were  not  dried  up;  they  still  sent  forth 
steady  and  powerful  currents.  Tlie  talent  and  intelligence  of 
the  country  had  been  at  school  for  ninety  years  and  now  first 
began  to  reap  the  full  fruit  of  their  studies  and  experiences 
and  to  display  the  character  and  vigor  of  their  manhood. I 
The  apprentice  had  become  the  master. 

Americans  have  been  reproached,  without  good  reason,  for 
extreme  devotion  to  their  material  interests.  The  mistake 
arose  from  the  circumstance  that  earnestness  and  progress  in 
this  field  were  more  apparent  than  in  the  higher  one  of  cul- 
ture, to  make  a  striking  showing  in  which  required  a  maturity 
of  organization  and  an  abundance  of  accumulated  wealth  im- 
possible in  formative  periods.  These  had  been  gathered  to 
such  an  extent  by  the  commencement  of  the  war  that,  at  its 
close,  when  the  results  began  to  do  justice  to  the  real  efforts 
of  the  past,  they  assumed  an  imposing  magnitude.  This  is 
made  sutnmarily  apparent  by  comparison  of  the  school  reve- 
nues of  some  of  the  leading  States  in  difl'erent  sections  in 
1860  and  1870.  Massachusetts  devoted  $2,200,000,  to  all  her 
schools,  in  1860,  and  $4,800,000  in  1870;  New  York  gave 
$5,000,000  to  schools  in  1860  and  $15,900,000  in  1870;  Ohio 
and  Pennsylvania  each  a  little  over  $3,000,000  in  1860,  and 
about  $10,000,000  in  1870;  Illinois  had  advanced  from  $2,.500,- 
000,  in  1860,  to  $9,900,000  in  1870;  Missouri  from  $1,200,000 
to  $4,300,000;  Iowa  from  $700,000  to  $3,500,000;  California 
from  $277,000  to  $2,946,000;  even  Kentucky,  wasted  by  war  on 
her  soil  and  her  labor  system  profoundly  disturbed,  advanced 
from  $1,080,000  in  1860  to  $2,530,000  in  1870,  and  Tennessee 
gave  $600,000  more  for  education  in  1870  than  1860,  though 
it  then  exceeded  $1,000,000. 

This  increase  of  school  revenues  was  attended  by  an  im- 
provement in  educational  systems  which  doubled  the  value 


476  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

oi  the  outlay.  At  every  practicable  point  improvements 
were  introduced.  Better  methods  were  employed  whenever 
it  was  believed  such  had  been  devised;  teachers  were  selected 
with  more  care;  high  schools,  academies  and  colleges  for 
supplying  higher  grades  of  instruction  were  multiplied, 
or  more  liberally  supported  ;  agricultural  colleges  were 
founded;  schools  of  art,  of  technical  and  professional  science; 
schools  for  the  blind,  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  for 
every  special  class  that  required  separate  attention,  sprung 
up  on  every  hand.  Schools  for  the  colored  people  were  estab- 
lished in  the  South,  embracing  all  grades  of  instruction,  from 
the  primary  school  to  the  college  or  university.  No  tield 
where  intelligence  coiild  be  trained  was  overlooked. 

The  new  settlements  and  the  Territories  were  not  deprived, 
as  formerly,  of  the  advantages  of  education  until  they  had 
gained  a  considerable  population.  Schools  were  established 
wherever  a  few  pupils  could  be  gathered.  The  interest  of 
the  people  in  the  intelligence  of  the  future  citizens  of  the 
Kepublic  was  everywhere  active. 

In  the  older  and  more  populous  States  of  the  Valley  school 
organizations  met  with  a  steady  success,  probably  not  exceeded 
anywhere  in  the  world.  In  the  newer  regions  more  time  was 
required  to  produce  results  commensurate  with  the  outlay  and 
the  efforts  made  ;  but  everywhere  the  welfare  of  the  future 
was  secured  so  far  as  efforts  in  this  direction  could  secure  it. 
Schools  were  the  first  to  feel  the  pulsations  of  prosperity  and 
the  last  to  share  pecuniary  adversity  throughout  the  country. 

The  nural)er  of  schools  of  all  kinds  in  the  country,  in  1860, 
was  115,224,  and  in  1870,  141,629— a  gain  of  26,000.  In 
the  Valley,  from  63,700  in  1860,  they  increased  to  83,900 
in  1870 — a  gain  of  more  than  20,000.  The  numV>er  of  pupils 
in  attendance  at  all  the  schools  of  the  United  States  in  1860 
was  5,4-77,000  and  in  1870,  7,209,000.  In  the  Valley  the 
increase  was  from  3,175,000  to  4,145,000  and  in  1875  they 
had  increased  to  5,200,000  in  the  Valley  and  8,950,000  in  the 
whole  United  States. 


EXPENDITURES    FOR    COMMON    AND    NORMAL    SCHOOLS.       477 

In  1860  tlie  expenditures  for  schools  of  all  kinds  in  the 
United  States  was  about  34,700,000 ;  in  1870,  $95,400,00l).  In 
the  Valley  the  expenditures  increased  from  $16,900,000  in 
1860  to  $48,600,000  in  1870.  The  income  of  schools  for 
1875  is  given  with  accuracy  only  for  the  common  scJiool  sys- 
tems of  the  States  and  territories.  The  common  sclioul  in- 
come of  the  whole  country  in  1870,  was  $65,400,000;  of  this, 
$36,900,000  belonged  to  the  Valley. 

In  1875  the  Valley  had  $49,000,000  for  common  schools 
and  the  whole  United  States  $88,600,000.  This  was  a  great 
gain  in  the  Valley  considering  the  many  difficulties  after 
1873.  It  had  not  the  reserve  resources  of  the  older  region 
but  did  not,  on  that  account,  pursue  its  educational  plans 
with  less  vigor. 

Of  62  Normal  Schools  for  training  teachers,  in  the  country, 
in  1875,  one  half,  31,  were  in  the  Valley  ;  and  of  the  29,000 
students  of  the  art  of  teaching,  about  16,000  were  in  the 
Valley — considerably  over  half.  The  funds,  however,  were 
not  equally  divided,  $280,000  being  spent  on  them  in  the 
Valley  to  $400,000  in  the  rest  of  the  country.  So,  of  the 
professional  and  technical  schools  of  the  country  those  of  the 
Valley  had  an  increase  less  than  $8,000,000,  while  other  parts 
of  the  country  gave  theirs  almost  $10,000,000.  The  East 
had  the  advantage  of  large  fortunes  and  liberal  bequests  from 
individuals  not  enjoyed  to  the  same  extent  in  the  Valley. 
Yet,  the  East  furnished  to  the  West  the  teaching  of  its  expe- 
rience, the  culture  of  its  scholars,  and  unnumbered  benefac- 
tions and  loans  of  its  capital  for  the  great  enterprises  under- 
taken. The  East  has  ever  been  the  banker  of  the  West.  It 
has  matured  ideas,  methods  and  men,  and  all  have  tended  to 
flow  westward  ;  if  it  has  grown  rich  in  commerce  with  the 
West,  its  gifts  and  loans  have  made  many  things  possible  in 
the  Valley  that,  without  it,  must  have  waited  for  a  better  day. 

The  ambition  to  found  new  institutions  in  the   new  soil  of 
the  Valley  has  sometimes  been  excessive,  and  more  adapted 


478  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAiLEY. 

to  the  necessities  of  the  future  than  the  present.  Of  365  col- 
leges and  universities  in  the  United  States,  in  1875,  230  were 
in  the  Valley.  Of  the  76,000  students  in  them  all  34,000 
were  in  the  Valley;  yet,  of  the  $5,000,000  income  enijoyed 
by  them  all,  the  Valley  had  but  $1,800,000.  Such  differences 
will  disappear  with  the  rapidly  increasing  wealth  of  the  Val- 
ley. Its  outlined  organizations,  however  numerous  now,  com- 
pared with  the  funds  provided  for  their  support,  will  all  be 
required  presently.  Like  the  first  Fathers  of  the  Republic, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Valley  are  working  for  the  future, 
whose  intellectual  welfare  they  do  not  by  any  means  neglect 
in  their  eager  pursuit  of  present  material  advantage. 

It  is  a  mistake  and  an  injustice  to  suppose  that  the  South- 
ern, or  slave.  States  of  the  Valley  did  little  for  the  cause  of 
education.  In  1860,  out  of  the  34,500  schools  of  all  kinds  in 
the  Valley,  18,900  were  in  slave  States,  and  they  spent  on 
them,  in  that  year,  $6,600,000 — about  one  fifth  of  all  that  was 
spent  in  the  whole  country  for  education.  Common  schools 
were  well  organized  in  the  Northwest,  but  efforts  in  that  direc- 
tion were  comparatively  ineffectual  in  the  South.  Louisiana, 
with  but  350,000  white  population,  had  a  larger  income,  pro- 
vided by  her  Constitution,  to  spend  on  her  common  schools 
than  Illinois,  with  1,700,000  whites.  Yet  the  results  were 
small  compared  with  Illinois.  The  education  of  the  white 
population  was  general  in  the  South,  although  under  different 
modes,  and  wanting  largely  in  the  vigor  of  organization  and 
in  the  earnest  persistance  of  purpose  that  combined  the  whole 
population  of  the  free  States  in  an  active  and  liberal  support 
of  plans  of  universal  education. 

There  was  a  singular  tendency  toward  improvement,  and 
the  years  of  the  war,  so  full  of  excitement  and  immense 
sacrifices  for  the  support  of  the  General  Government,  left 
educational  systems  in  full  progress  in  the  free  States.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  effect  of  this  immense 
progress  of  fifteen  years;  perhaps  it  would  even  be  difficult 


THE    RESULTS    OF    COMMON    SCHOOL    INSTEUCTION.  479 

to  over-estimate  it.  It  is  true  that  education  is  only  begun 
when  the  young  are  graduated  from  the  common  school, 
the  academy  or  the  college;  yet  it  is  the  first  step,  and  a 
great  one.  It  may  fairly  be  considered,  as  a  rule,  to  have 
transferred  the  mental  powers  of  the  individual  from  the 
latent  and  passive  to  the  active  state.  In  a  multitude  of 
cases  this  does  not  at  once  appear,  and  may  not  for  gener- 
ations, possibly;  yet  it  is  an  eye  opened,  a  horizon  en- 
larged, a  tendency  given.  Definite  ideas  on  a  multitude  of 
subjects  are  formed,  and  the  key  to  the  domains  of  knowledge 
is  put  into  the  hands  of  the  young.  The  newspaper  is  placed 
before  him,  a  thousand  occasions  for  using  his  acquisitions 
arise  in  the  active  life  around  him.  The  germs  of  intellect- 
ual power  often  find  a  poor  soil,  but  some  of  them  are  sure 
to  spring  into  life.  Unfavorable  circumstances  may  turn  the 
pupil  to  vice  or  wither  all  that  springs  up;  but  these  will  be 
exceptional  cases.  It  is  a  new  help  to  rise  in  the  world,  con- 
fers a  sense  of  respectability,  and  if  he  does  not  improve  on 
his  basis  of  school  education  he  will  be  more  anxious  that  his 
children  should  learn.    It  is  a  great  step  gained,  for  the  lowest. 

For  multitudes  it  is  the  broad  base  on  which  to  build  a 
new  career  ;  the  impulse  which  finally  turns  the  machine  to 
the  man.  Popular  education  is  an  arm  reached  down  to  each 
social  grade  to  draw  it  up  to  a  higher  level.  It  is  a  lever  to 
raise  the  world  of  men  to  a  better  life.  Social  influences,  the 
exercise  and  discipline  of  business,  innate  aspiration,  stimu- 
lated more  and  more  every  year  by  the  expansive  progress  of 
the  times,  are  so  many  forces  to  work  this  lever.  The  whole 
result,  in  the  course  of  generations,  must  be  incalculable. 

Improvement  of  methods  will  go  on  until  the  value  <if 
results  from  the  same  eflforts  and  expenditures  will  be 
perhaps  increased  a  hundred  fold,  while  the  eftbrts  and 
expenditures  themselves  are  increasing  by  a  large  ratio.  In 
1873,  the  income  of  the  common  school  system  was  a  little 
over  $80,000,000  ;    in   1875,  in  spite  of  the  great  financial 


480 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


difficulties  of  the  intervening  time,  they  increased  by  over 
$8,000,000  while,  probably,  the  value  of  the  whole  outlay  had 
been  increased  by  a  much  larger  per  cent.  Teacliers  yearly 
become   more   intelligent   and  efficient  by   a  large  general 


Not  one  generation  has  passed  since  the  interest  in  popular 
education  became  so  general  as  to  result  in  the  formation  of 
the  systems  which  have  been  seen  to  expand  su  greatly  since 
the  close  of  the  war.  A  large  part  of  the  more  important 
and  impressive  results  are  still  very  partially  worked  out; 
and  the  generation  that  has  been  most  largely  benefited  has 
not  yet  replaced  that  which  grew  up  under  far  less  favorable 
circumstances;  therefore  the  general  progress  of  intelligence 
that  has  been  gained  is  only  partially  perceptible.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  people  who  were  scattered  over  the  West 
and  South  when  almost  no  facilities  for  the  education  of  their 
families  had  been  introduced  still  live.  Their  children,  who 
had  few  advantages  compared  with  those  now  furnished  to 
their  families,  are  in  the  prime  of  life — of  a  life,  on  the  aver- 
age, most  energetic  and  successfully  progressive.  When 
they  give  place  to  the  youth  now  receiving  superior  instruc- 
tion the  law  of  progress  will  declare  itself  with  still  greater 
distinctness. 

Let  the  educational  deprivations  of  the  pioneers  east  of  the 
Mississippi  be  compared  with  the  attention  now  given  to  pop 
ular  instruction  in  new  States  and  Territories.  What  the  New 
England  pioneers  first  undertook  in  Ohio,  and  only  partially 
succeeded  in,  is  carried  out  efiectively  in  the  new  regions  of 
the  present.  Usually  the  best  and  most  expensive  building 
erected  in  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  other  new  settlements  of  the 
western  border  of  the  Valley,  is  a  school  house.  In  all  tlie 
villages  and  towns  of  a  few  hundred  scholars,  graded  schools, 
taught  by  carefully  trained  instructors,  are  in  full  operation; 
normal  schools,  libraries,  newspapers,  the  telegraph  and  rail- 
road, unite  to  bring  all  the  impulses  and  light  of  the  most 


PRESENT  EDUCATION  AND  THE  FUTURE.         481 

favored  communities  to  bear  on  the  young  as  well  as  the  adult. 
They  are  still  in  the  center  of  civilization  and  feel  all  the 
powerful  pulsations  of  its  stirring  life.  There  is  now  no  fron- 
tier where  life  and  thought  can  be  arrested  and  stagnate.  How 
great  must  be  the  sum  of  intellectual  power  added  in  the  next 
twenty  years  when  growth  is  universal  and  the  various  im- 
plements of  learning  and  practical  discipline  are  increased 
tenfold,  l)oth  in  number  and  comparative  efficiency,  over 
those  of  the  last  twenty  years  ? 

Education  meets  with  more  difficulties,  in  the  way  of  ef- 
fective organization,  in  the  South,  because  it  is  comparatively 
poor  and  it  has  four  millions  of  freedraen  to  instruc..  But 
the  opening  stage  will  soon  be  past,  organization  will  get 
into  the  best  working  order,  and  progress  acquire  -^momentum 
sufficient  to  override  all  difficulties.  The  significance  of  the 
general  educational  situation  is  very  great.  It  certainly 
promises  an  extraordinary  future,  such  as  has  seldom  been 
imagined  but  by  the  brain  of  an  enthusiast.  Culture  is  a 
living,  growing  organism.  It  has  become  thoroughly  natural- 
ized in  every  walk  of  life  in  the  Valley  and  will  bring  forth 
in  as  great  abundance  as  the  soil  of  the  prairies. 

31 


CHAPTEE    XVI. 

THE     GROWING     BREADTH     OF     RELATIONS     TO     THE    OUTSIDE 

WORLD. 

The  actual  usefulness  of  the  resources  of  the  Valley,  and  the 
degree  in  which  they  will  become  sources  of  colossal  wealth  to 
its  inhabitants,  depends  on  the  development  of  other  sections 
and  other  nations  in  different  lines.  As  these  become  wealthy 
and  great  in  other  ways,  and  require  and  are  able  to  pay  for  the 
excess  of  its  special  products,  those  products  will  acquire  value. 
If  others  do  not  need,  and  will  not  buy,  at  remunerative  prices, 
what  it  can  furnish  beyond  its  own  consumption  it  will  still 
be  poor  in  the  midst  of  its  abundance;  its  activity  will  be 
checked;  and  it  will  be  unable  to  purchase  the  thousand  things 
it  does  not  produce  and  which  enter  so  largely,  in  modern 
times,  into  the  list  of  necessities,  comforts  or  luxuries  of  life. 
A  due  estimate  of  the  Valley,  therefore,  requires  some 
knowledge  of  the  character  and  degree  of  development  of 
outside  regions. 

The  Eastern  or  Atlantic  States  bear  closer  and  more  im- 
portant relation  to  the  center  of  the  continent  than  any  other 
region.  At  first,  they  contained  the  nation;  for  more  than 
half  the  period  of  its  existence  they  have  held  the  great  mass 
of  its  population  and  have  always  held  the  larger  part  of  its 
surplus  wealth  and  owned  and  conducted  the  mass  of  its 
commerce,  trade  and  manufactures.  It  has  been  only  witliin 
a  few  years  that  this  central  section,  so  long  and  laboriously 
occupied  in  laying  foundations,  has  so  far  succeeded  as  to 
begin  to  accumulate  on  a  large  scale. 

The  East,  by  its  position  facing  Europe,  has  always  had  a 
substantial  monopoly  of  commerce  and  must  always  possess 
eminent  advantages  in  that  respect  over  the  rest  of  the  coun- 

483 


I 


THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  VALLEY  WITH  THE  EAST.    483 

try.  The  constant  growtli  of  its  commerce  is  secure.  The 
southern  and  central  Valley  will  naturally  obtain  a  consider- 
able share  of  that  branch  of  activity,  by  the  gulf  and  its 
great  river,  but  it  will  be  chiefly  a  division  of  the  growth  of 
commerce,  immense  in  itself  as  the  South  develops  its  un- 
touched resources  and  the  markets  of  the  world  enlarge : 
but  small  compared  with  the  upper  Atlantic  regions — placed 
directly  between  the  grain-growing  States  of  the  Northwest 
and  Europe,  with  the  immense  advantage  of  the  chain  of 
great  lakes  and  easy  railway  communications.  The  commer- 
cial superiority  of  the  Atlantic  region  will  always  make  its 
prosperity  a  matter  of  great  interest  to  the  upper  Valley. 

But  it  is  still  more  eminent  for  its  manufactures  than  its 
commerce.  We  have  seen  that  a  considerable  degree  of  trans- 
fer of  some  of  these  industries  to  the  Valley  began  between 
1860  and  1870.  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  together 
produced  four  fifths  as  much  as  Massachusetts,  in  1870,  and 
Illinois  and  Missouri  together  about  the  same,  and,  united, 
these  four  Western  regions  produced  one  fourth  more  than 
New  York;  but  that  did  not  prevent  a  colossal  development 
of  manufactures  in  the  East  during  that  decade. 

The  products  of  the  manufactures  of  Massachusetts,  New 
York  and  Pennsjdvaniarose  from  less  than  one  thousand  mil- 
lion dollars'  value  in  1860,  to  more  than  two  thousand  five 
hundred  million  in  1870  ;  and  at  the  last  date  they  produced 
considerably  more  than  half  the  manufactures  of  the  entire 
Union.  .Transfers  of  much  importance,  of  some  of  these  in- 
dustries, are  likely  to  be  made  westward  and  the  Valley  will 
soon  far  excel  the  present  manufactured  values  of  the  whole 
country;  yet  it  can  not  be  questioned  that  the  East  will 
always  maintain  a  great  superiority.  America  is  beginning 
to  manufacture  for  the  foreign  world  on  a  larger  scale  each 
year;  and  the  advantages  of  vicinity  to  the  great  commercial 
ports,  of  vast  investments  made  and  tendencies  produced, 
will  preserve  to  it  the  lead  in  this  direction  probably  in  all 
the  future. 


484  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

The  East  has  its  agricultural  greatness,  also.  In  1870  tlie 
value  of  farms  in  New  York  was  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  State  in  the  Union  by  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
million  dollars;  Pennsylvania  was  only  slightly  exceeded  by 
Ohio,  and  exceeded  Illinois  by  eighty  million  dollars;  and  the 
agricultural  interest  in  the  East,  generally,  is  one  of  great 
magnitude.  But  it  will  be  remembered  that  one  third  of 
Pennsylvania  is  in  the  Valley,  and  that  much  of  New  York 
is  the  eastern  part  of  the  Great  Lake  system  by  geological 
origin,  as  well  as  by  position  and  soil,  and  that  system  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  Valley.  Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that, 
having  the  great  advantage  of  lying  near  the  centers  of  pop- 
ulation and  wealth,  these  States  have  already  reached  a  com- 
parative maturity  of  agricultural  development,  while  most  of 
the  Valley  proper  has,  as  yet,  produced  only  its  first  fruits  and 
given  but  a  hint  of  its  capacities.  While,  then,  the  results  of 
agriculture  in  the  East  will  be  comparatively  stationary,  the 
Valley  agriculture  may  be  developed  to  any  desirable  extent 
for  centuries  to  come.  The  proportion  of  food  produced  in 
the  East  to  its  population  will  constantly  diminish  and  its 
relations  to  the  welfare  of  the  Valley  enlarge  in  the  same 
degree. 

By  its  commercial  and  manufacturing  superiority  it  must 
gather  a  dense  population,  generally  prosperous,  which  will 
furnish  an  ever  larger  market  to  the  Valley.  As,  therefore, 
the  Valley  will  be  ever  a  large  customer  of  the  East  so  it  will 
find  in  that  section  one  of  the  largest  sources  of  its  wealth. 
They  complement  each  other. 

The  mining  regions  of  the  Pacific  section  are  comparatively 
new,  but  had  the  foundations  of  their  Anglo-American  civili- 
zation laid  with  surprising  speed  under  the  stimulus  of  gold 
discoveries.  These  were  enlarged  and  consolidated  by  the  con- 
struction of  the  Pacific  Railway,  connecting  them  with  the 
East,  which  was  completed  in  1869.  They  decreased  in  the 
product  of  precious  metals  from  sixty-five  million  dollars,  in 


THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE    AND   THE    VALLEY.  485 

1853,  to  thirty-six  millions,  in  1872  and  1873;  but  the  great 
quantity  of  these  metals  deposited  through  the  whole  range 
of  the  Kocky  Mountains  becomes  more  evident  as  they  are 
more  carefully  examined,  and  they  may  be  relied  on  to  fur- 
nish a  constant  supply  for  centuries  to  come,  and  also  vast 
quantities  of  more  common,  but  more  useful,  mineral  products. 

The  product  of  gold  and  silver  in  this  whole  region,  includ- 
ing Colorado,  Montana  and  westward  to  the  Pacific,  was  esti- 
mated to  have  amounted,  between  the  years  1848  and  the  com- 
mencement of  1876,  to  one  thousand,  live  hundred  and  ninety 
million  dollars.  Yet  its  true  mining  wealth  must  be  consid- 
ered as  but  slightly  drawn  upon.  Already  more  than  a  mil- 
lion inhabitants  are  spread  along  the  Pacific  Slope  or  scattered 
through  the  valleys  and  gorges  of  the  mountains.  San  Fran- 
cisco will  become  another  New  York — the  metropolis  of  a 
populous  region  and  numerous  States,  the  center  of  vast  com- 
merce with  Japan,  China  and  the  East  Indies;  other  railways 
will  join  this  coast  with  the  Valley  and  with  the  East;  and, 
in  time,  its  commerce  and  the  products  of  its  mines  will  be- 
come, perhaps,  almost  as  important  in  value  as  the  products  of 
the  East.  Its  agricultural  capacities  are  not  the  least  of  its 
resources,  as  yet.  In  1870  the  value  of  the  farms  of  Cali- 
fornia amounted  to  $141,000,000,  and  their  products  to  about 
$50,000,000,  increased  to  over  $54,000,000  in  1S75,  exclusive 
of  its  fruits,  while  its  live  stock  was  then  valued  at  more  than 
$45,000,000.  Its  entire  income,  from  all  these  resources,  must 
have  amounted,  in  that  year,  to  $65,000,000 — the  largest  sum 
it  ever  produced  in  one  year  from  its  mines. 

Yet,  great  as  is  the  agricultural  capacity  which  these  statis- 
tics indicate,  commerce,  manufactures  and  mining  will  gather 
a  great  population  of  noti-agriculturists,  whose  demands  for 
food  can  not  be  supplied  by  the  utmost  resources  of  all  the 
lands  of  those  States  which  can  be  cultivated  with  profit,  great 
as  future  results  are  certain  to  prove,  with  irrigation.  In  time, 
the  abundant  food  products  of  the  Valley  will  flow  across  the 


486 


THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


mountains  to  its  commercial  centers  for  the  use  of  its  popu- 
lation and  for  export  to  Asia  or  the  islands  of  the  Pacific. 
The  mining  industries,  the  forests,  and  the  commerce  of  the 
Pacific  side  of  the  continent  will  ultimately  raise  that  region 
to  a  prosperity  and  a  magnitude  of  development  rivaling  the 
East;  for  it  has  a  field  more  vast  without  the  same  rivalry 
from  Furope.  Western  America  will  regenerate  Asia,  in  the 
course  of  time,  by  its  free  and  natural  civilization,  and  grow 
rich  in  the  process. 

Thus,  the  Valley  finds  itself  midway  between  two  sections 
whose  internal  capacities  and  outside  relations  assure  them  a 
boundless  development.  The  East  has  two  classes  of  markets, 
whose  capacity  to  receive  from  her  will  constantly  enlarge — 
Europe  and  all  the  lands  readily  reached  by  the  commerce  of 
the  Atlantic  on  one  side,  and  those  of  the  inexhaustilily  fer- 
tile Valley  on  the  other.  Tlie  extreme  West  is  equally  favored 
by  ready  connections  with  Asia,  the  East  Indies  and  the  trop- 
ical wealth  of  the  Pacific  islands  on  one  side,  and  the  Valley 
on  the  other.  By  means,  then,  of  these  two  powerful  sup- 
ports— these  two  arms  stretched  out  east  and  west  to  Europe 
and  Asia — the  Valley  makes  its  great  superiority  in  its  own 
special  resources  felt  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Steam  and  the  electric  telegraph  have  quite  changed  the 
relations  of  those  communities  of  mankind  called  nations. 
From  the  dawn  of  history  nations  have  been,  in  general, 
Ishmaelites  to  each  other — each  in  a  state  of  violent  antag- 
onism to  the  rest,  which,  as  a  rule,  only  prudence  and  a  sense 
of  weakness  restrained.  Alliances  were  formed  to  give  tem- 
porary strength  for  self-protection  or  for  offense.  As  civili- 
zation ripened  in  modern  times,  and  wide-spread  activities 
required  some  check  to  this  spirit  ever  threatening  a  sudden 
and  dangerous  outbreak  of  war,  a  loose  confederacy  was  formed, 
among  the  most  civilized  nations,  to  maintain  the  ''  Balance 
of  Power  "  in  Europe.  It  put  a  curb  on  ambition  and  raised 
strong  barriers  against  the  destructive  exercise  of  military 


MODERN    INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS.  487 

power.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  defied  this  prudent  European 
tribunal,  and,  after  a  contest  of  nearly  twenty  years,  was 
finally  overthrown  by  it. 

Yet,  so  strong  is  the  antagonistic  principle  among  men  that 
even  Eur^e  has  had  small  success  in  her  efi'ort  to  control  it. 
So  afraid  are  her  nations  of  each  other,  so  ready  to  improve 
any  favorable  chance  of  building  up  their  own  power  at  the 
expense  of  others,  that,  in  profound  peace,  Europe  is  a  vast 
warlike  camp;  its  armies  and  navies,  and  the  interest  of  its 
war  debts,  e.xceed  all  its  other  expenses.  Its  war  debts  are 
too  large  to  hope  ever  to  pay  off,  some  nations  not  being  able 
even  to  pay  the  interest  on  them.  With  the  return  to  first 
principles  and  natural  law  of  the  American  Hepnblic  an  ele- 
ment of  reform  was  introduced.  The  United  States  would  be 
the  friend  of  all,  the  enemy  of  none,  and  declined  to  maintain 
a  larger  standing  army  than  was  necessary  to  protect  her  fron- 
tiers. »  The  war  with  England,  with  Mexico,  and  the  Civil  War 
were  exceptional.  The  })rinciple  has  gathered  strength  even 
from  the  result  of  these  wars;  but  its  great  gain  has  been 
derived  from  the  development  of  power  in  the  people  every- 
where and  the  corresponding  decrease  of  strength  in  govern- 
ments. 

The  chief  direct  instruments  of  this  happy  re-distribution 
of  power  have  been  steam  and  electricity.  They  have  brought 
nations  nearer  to  each  other,  have  greatly  multiplied  relations 
of  mutual  profit  between  them,  and  have  immensely'  promoted 
the  development  of  the  elements  of  wealth  in  civilized  lands, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  distributing  it  more  equally  among 
all  classes  of  men.  Nations  no  longer  prosper  independently. 
Those  which  have  business  relations  with  the  largest  number 
of  foreign  peoples  are  the  most  prosperous,  and  the  degree  of 
their  prosperity  will  be  measured  by  the  extent  of  business 
done  with  each.  This  draws  the  nations  together,  increases 
community  of  interests  and  makes  the  prosperity  of  one  the 
prosperity  of  all.     They  have  become  mutually  dependent. 


488 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


The  disturbance  of  friendly  relations  between  any  two  intro- 
duces a  disastrous  element  into  tlie  business  of  those  most  dis- 
tant and  causes  sufleriiig  through  the  whole   civilized  world. 

Under  this  consolidation  of  the  nations  into  a  vast  com- 
munity, that  member  which  possesses  the  greatest  (Quantity  of 
valuable  products  of  a  kind  wanted  by  the  largest  number 
of  other  nations  will  hold  the  most  imj)ortant  and  vital  rela- 
tions toward  the  rest.  It  will  "come  to  the  front,"  will  exert 
the  most  influence  and  will  be  the  most  concerned  in  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  the  world.  The  nation  holding  that  fore- 
most place  at  the  present  time  is  England.  The  annual  value 
of  her  commerce  much  exceeds  three  thousand  million  dollars, 
while  that  of  France  and  the  United  States,  both  holding  the 
second  rank,  and  nearly  equal  with  each  other,  is  less  than 
one  half  as  much  for  each.  Their  foreign  commerce  united 
does  not  equal  England's.  It  is  largely  by  her  manufacturing 
activity  that  she  has  gained  and  holds  this  rank,  her  coal  sup- 
plying her  with  manufacturing  force  In  1876  her  production 
of  coal  amounted  to  14-9, 300, 000  tons,  while  its  production  in 
the  United  States  was  estimated  at  47,500,000  tons.  But  all 
the  coal  in  the  rest  of  the  world  is,  apparently,  but  a  fraction 
of  that  held  by  the  United  States. 

While,  therefore,  England  is  the  commeirial  and  inanutac- 
turing  countr}'  of  the  present,  the  United  States  is  that  of  the 
future.  England  imports  a  lai'ge  ])art  of  her  raw  material  tor 
manufacturing  purposes,  while  America  produces  the  lai'gLM- 
part  of  hers — perhaps  she  is  capable  of  producing  all.  Eng- 
land imported,  in  1873-4,  3,14!t,000  bales  of  cotton,  consum- 
ing herself  2,040,000  bales  of  it.  The  United  States,  in  the 
same  year,  consumed  1,300,000  bales,  and,  in  1875,  jii'oductul 
4,000,000  bales.  The  United  States,  by  the  illimitable  re- 
sources of  its  great  Valley,  must  be  able  to  distance  e\erv 
competitor  as  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  nation.  Eng- 
land must  import  much  of  her  material  and  food  for  the  work- 
men who  produce  the  manufactures  for  her  export  conimeii-t 


HOW    AMERICA    WILT,    SURPASS    ENGLAND.  48& 

— a  great  burden  laid  on  her  production,  which  is  almost 
entirely  spared  the  American  manufacturer.  He  can,  in  the 
long  run,  and  on  close  competition,  produce  cheaper  and 
faster  than  his  English  compeer,  and  has  the  assurance  of  tlie 
future  market. 

It  was  the  Anglo-Saxon  instinct  of  business  sagacity,  the 
very  natural  desire  to  be  rid  of  a  dangerous  rival  in  their  own 
line  if  it  could  occur  without  injury  to  theinselves,  that  led  to 
a  large  degree  of  English  sympathy  for  tlic  South  in  the  Civil 
Warand  the  disposition,  indulged  farther  than  prudence  would 
have  counseled,  to  render  it  aid;  and  it  was  the  same  sagacity 
that  led  the  loyal  States  to  cheerfully  strain  ever}'  nerve  to 
preserve  a  Union  on  which  the  speedy  attainment  of  commer- 
cial and  manufacturing  superiority  de])ended.  To  keep  the 
great  Valley  entire  and  joined  to  the  East  was  as  important 
to  the  natural  development  as  to  the  political  strength  of  the 
Anglo-American  people. 

The  Valley,  then,  stands  as  the  feeder,  and  in  many  respects 
the  support,  of  the  right  and  left  wing  of  the  country,  giving 
vigor  to  each  strong  arm  to  perform  its  own  special  work,  and 
adding  to  their  commercial  exports  an  enormous  amount  of 
its  special  products.  The  internal  commerce  of  tne  country, 
in  1876,  is  estimated  to  have  been  as  follows:  $10,000,000,000 
worth  of  goods  transported  over  its  railways  ;  $500,000  on 
its  canals,  and  $750,000,000  on  vessels  engaged  in  its  domes- 
tic trade — $11,250,000,000  in  all,  more  than  seven  times 
the  value  of  the  whole  foreii^n  commerce  of  the  country,  in- 
eluding  exports  and  imports.  Perhaps  five  times  the  value 
of  the  foreign  trade  was  transported  from,  to,  or  within  the 
Valley,  for  all  which  transportation  its  products  paid.  Its 
relations  to  the  world  of  business  within  and  without  the 
country  are  already  of  great  magnitude.  England  is  an  old 
country  It  had  only  the  extension  of  its  business  to  provide 
fur,  wliile  the  United  States,  being  new  and  vast,  must  attend 
to  laying,  and  building  on,  first  foundations.    Everything  must 


490 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


be  built  up  and  organized  from  the  bottom  ;  it  could  give  a 
portion  only  of  its  attention,  capital  and  skill  to  work  in 
which  energetic  England  was  wholly  engaged.  It  is  now  far 
advanced  in  preparation  and  may  be  expected  to  compete 
with  England  as  fast  as  it  can  open  markets  for  its  wares. 
The  magnificent  results  of  its  industry  and  enterprise  will 
soon  astonish  the  world. 

When  the  Gulf  States  are  well  developed,  and  even  as  soon 
as  they  are  in  the  full  career  toward  this  condition,  an  active 
and  rapidly-growing  commerce  will  make  tlieir  section  fore- 
most in  the  country  in  prosperity  and  wealth.  All  the 
hindrances  will  soon  be  overcome. 

To  the  full  development  of  a  successful  commercial  compe- 
tition with  the  Atlantic  States  it  is  necessary  that  the  West 
Indies,  Mexico,  Central  America  and  the  South  American 
States  should  acquire  political,  social  and  industrial  stability 
and  begin  a  solid  and  i-apid  progress,  which  may  be  held  as 
assured  to  them  by  the  painful  lessons  of  their  past  experience, 
by  the  admixture  of  industrious  foreign  blood  and  by  the 
growing  influence  and  powerful  examj^le  of  the  United 
States. 

Another  circumstance  of  perhaps  still  greater  importance 
will  bring  a  flood  of  foreign  commerce  to  the  lower  Valley. 
A  ship  canal  through  the  Isthmus  will  open  the  Pacific  to 
Atlantic  commerce.  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis  may  then 
load  their  vessels  for  Japan,  China  and  the  West  coast  of 
America  without  re-shipment  of  exports  and  imports.  The 
Valley  will  then  be  in  direct  relations  with  Europe  by  the 
St.  Lawrence,  with  all  the  South  Atlantic  countries  by  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  with  all  Pacific  lands  by  the  Isthmus 
canal. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  the  river  system  of  the  Valley 
will  be  a  new  and  great  relief  to  the  overflowing  products  of 
the  Valley  It  will  not  be  easy,  when  such  relations  are  fully 
established,  to  compel  its  farmers  to  sell,  for  an  insufficient 


THE    FUTURE    RANK    OF    NATIONS    AND    SECTIONS.  491 

price,  its  several  tliousaud  million  bushels  of  various  grains. 
The  storehouses  and  granaries  will  be  kept  comparatively 
free  and  the  whole  Valley  will  feel  the  stimulus  of  a  new  life. 
The  railway  problems  will  be  simplified,  the  manufactures, 
the  mining  and  general  trade  of  the  Valle}'  wiJl  flourish,  and, 
joined  to  its  specialty,  will  raise  the  Valley  out  of  dependence 
on  the  capitalists  and  jobbers  of  the  East. 

The  relations  of  the  Valley  arising  from  its  central  position 
between  the  two  powerful  sections,  each  having  a  great 
specialty,  and  the  two  oceans  which  give  it  the  advantage  be- 
longing to  Rome  and  Italy  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era  as  a  kind  of  center  of  the  world,  are  of  great 
importance  to  it,  to  the  country  as  a  whole,  and  to  the  other 
four  quarters  of  the  globe.  As  yet,  indeed,  this  central  emi- 
nence is  only  suggested  ;  it  is  a  realization  for  the  future. 
It  can  not  be  foreseen  that,  when  it  is  realized,  it  will  dimin- 
ish the  proper  greatness  of  other  sections;  or  that  the  superior- 
ity of  the  United  States,  as  a  whole,  will  dry  up  any  of  the 
real  sources  of  prosperity  in  other  lands.  A  certain  redistri- 
bution of  industries  will  give  to  every  region  an  eminence  of 
its  own  determined  by  its  natural  resources  and  the  special 
genius  of  its  inhabitants,  whereby  its  power  to  produce  results 
will  be  greatly  increased  ;  but  the  rank  of  nations  and  coun- 
tries will  be  reassigned. 

That  nation  or  section  which  is  possessed  of  the  most  exten- 
sive, and  the  largest  number  of.  permanent  resources,  with  the 
capacity  in  its  people  of  making  the  most  of  them  by  their 
enterprise  and  intelligence,  will  necessarily  come  to  the  front 
and  exert  the  widest  influence.  The  ultimate  leadership  of 
the  world  was  determined  by  the  operation  of  those  forces 
which,  in  geological  times,  distributed  the  resources  of  the 
earth  in  its  bosom,  and.  later,  arranged  the  relative  positions, 
and  directed  the  development  and  distribution,  of  the  races  of 
mankind.  Character  and  special  fitness  will  always  have 
much  to  do  with  the  course  of  human  affairs  and  the  rank  of 


492 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


nations.  Tlie  Germanic  races  will  take  the  lead  of  the  world 
for  centuries,  if  not  forever,  and  the  practical  sense  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  seems  t<j  assure  to  them  always  the  front  of  this 
vanguard  of  progress  and  power. 

It  can  not  be  foreseen  that  England  will  ever  experience 
the  fate  of  Assyria,  Chaldea,  Greece,  Carthage,  or  Rome. 
Macauley's  New  Zealander  is  an  impossibility.  They  all 
rested  on  superficial  and  temporary  features  of  national  char- 
acter and  on  their  relative  situation.  The  prosperity  of 
England  rests  on  the  inherent  character  and  mental  resources 
of  her  inhabitants  and  on  a  superior  situation.  This  charac- 
ter and  accompanying  advantages  are  developed  and  strength- 
ened, not  worn  and  wasted,  by  her  advance.  When  one  re- 
source of  material  power  fails  another  will  be  easily  found. 
Piiysical  resources  and  particular  advantages  may  be  exhausted 
and  changed;  mental  power  is  nourished  by  action.  It  does 
not  seem  that  this  vigorous  intelligence  can  ever  fail;  that  it 
can  become  the  sport  of  circumstances  or  the  victim  of  false 
systems.  It  is  so  strongly  progressive  and  so  wisely  con- 
servative as  to  become  more  and  more  the  master  of  all  situ- 
ations, and  no  exhaustion  of  present  resources  can  fail  to  be 
replaced  by  some  other  and  greater.  England,  apparently, 
must  always  advance  in  greatness. 

Yet,  her  own  children,  endowed  with  the  leading  features  of 
her  genius,  found  a  better  base  for  development,  and,  compar- 
atively unfettered  by  tlie  past,  they  had  the  same  high  instinct 
of  prudence  which  has  made  her  great.  It  led  them  to  loosen 
the  bonds  that  interfered  with  free  action.  The  Anglo- 
American  in  the  Valley  has  found  a  situation  and  outward 
resources  which  he  is  in  the  way  of  improving  to  the  utmost, 
and  which,  in  less  than  two  centuries  of  independent  life,  will 
give  him  a  decided  and  permanent  advantage  over  his  Euro- 
pean relative.  America  has  looser  institutions,  but  the  love 
of  order  and  regard  for  law;  a  quick  and  intelligent  percep- 
tion of  interest  finds   fewer  obstacles   than   in   the   mother 


FUTURE    CONCENTRATION    OF    POWER    IN    THE    VALLEY.      493 

country;  and  her  people  have  commenced  a  course  of  success- 
ful rivalry  that  will  place  the  old  country  in  the  second  rank 
at  no  distant  day.  Great  as  may  be  the  progress  of  Old 
England,  the  New  England,  with  its  wonderful  Valley,  will 
outstrip  her. 

Capital  tends  toward  it— not  only  because  it  can  gather  the 
largest  rewards  in  the  development  of  the  superior  mass  and 
quality  of  resources,  and  of  the  greater  ease  and  less  expense- 
of  obtaining  the  raw  material  for  its  industries — but  also 
because,  from  its  central  situation,  it  can  more  readily  survey 
and  reach  with  its  products  all  the  various  markets  for  which 
thev  are  destined.  Capital  will  often  cross  the  mountains  and 
locate  at  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  or  St.  Louis,  accord- 
ing to  the  convenience  and  cheapness  of  material,  if  it  seeks 
a  market  in  every  region  of  the  country.  Circumstances, 
indeed,  modify  that  movement  for  the  present;  facilities  are 
not  equally  developed  in  many  of  the  newer  sections,  markets 
have  not  opened  everywhere  as  they  will  in  the  course  of  years. 
Wlien  population  has  flowed  everywhere  and  produced  a  de- 
mand for  manufactures  at  every  point,  when  competition  is 
so  close  that  small  differences  in  cost  of  material  and  trans- 
portation, or  presence  in  the  general  center  of  the  country, 
secures  larger  sales  at  less  cost,  then  what  are  trifles  now  will 
form  the  real  margin  of  proflt,  and  capital  will  prefer  the 
Valley  to  the  extreme  East  or  West.  This  period  will  come 
in  one,  two,  or  a  few,  generations. 

Business  is  generalized  more  readily  when  it  is  conducted 
from  the  center,  unless  local  circumstances  are  so  favorable  as 
to  over-balance  that  advantage.  In  a  country  of  spaces  so 
large  and  sources  of  prosjierity  so  manv  and  so  great,  the 
internal  commerce  will  always  remain  vastly  superior  to  the 
foreign,  and  a  large  part  of  it  will  start  fi-om  central  points. 
The  middle  regions  of  the  Valley,  therefore,  will  attract  activ- 
ity and,  in  the  long  run,  will  gather  the  greatest  accumula- 
tions of  industry  and  wealth.      The  business  of  the  whole 


494 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


country  will  radiate  from  it  and  the  tendency  to  ontgrow  and 
Iq  control  other  sections  must  constantly  increase. 

What  the  country  has  become  in  a  hundred  years  is  very 
little  to  what  it  will  become  in  another  century.  Its  politics, 
its  industries,  its  agents  of  activity,  are  developed  to  a  stable 
point — are  so  unified  that  the  pulsations  of  its  thought  and 
energy  meet  comparatively  trifling  obstacles  and  are  felt  from 
'  ocean  to  ocean  and  from  Montana  to  Florida.  With  this  free 
field  activity  will  organize — that  is  to  say,  will  regulate  and 
harmonize  its  various  branches  so  as  to  lose  as  little  power 
in  conflict  as  possible;  which  implies  a  center  and  a  circum- 
ference, a  head  and  extremities,  a  wise  control  and  subordi- 
nation. As  the  body  of  the  people,  the  bulk  of  the  natural 
wealth  of  the  country,  and  conveniences  for  combining,  assim- 
ilating and  distributing  the  products  of  labor  are  found  in  the 
Valley  it  follows  that  other  sections  are  united  in  it  and  con- 
trolled through  it. 

A  large  pro])ortion  of  the  commerce,  the  manufactures  and 
the  mining  of  the  other  sections  are  guided  by  the  needs  of 
the  center  and  most  important  region  of  the  nation.  The 
country  flnds  its  unity  and  completeness  in  it. 

It  is  no  longer  possible  for  one  section  of  the  United  States 
to  mistreat  another.  Interests  are  too  closely  interlaced,  the 
importance  of  the  welfare  of  one  section  to  the  others  would 
consolidate  the  majority  in  all  against  any  scheme  of  injus- 
tice. Although  sectional  misunderstandings  and  antagonisms 
produced  a  long  strife  ending  in  a  fearful  war,  with  its  heated 
passions  and  bitterness,  its  reaction  of  demoralization,  impe- 
riousness  and  hatred,  yet  the  contest  did  not  have  its  root  in 
the  hearts,  in  the  character  of  the  people.  It  was  precipita- 
ted by  temporary  and  surface  obstacles  to  an  understanding 
which,  during  its  course,  were  put  in  the  way  of  extinction. 

The  passions  it  called  out,  the  evils  it  produced,  had  not 
force  of  permanent  antagonism  to  sustain  them.  The  inter- 
ests, the  clear  common  sense,  the  natural  unity  of  race,  of 


THE    VAXLEY    PROMOTES    IIAKMONY.  495 

principle  and  of  country,  forbade  them  a  long  existence.  Tiie 
sympathies  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern  Valley  flowout 
to  the  dweller  in  the  Southern  States  as  naturally  and  irresisti- 
bly as  do  the  waters  of  the  Great  River.  A  sense  of  justice,  the 
impossibility  of  long  withholding  natural  rights  from  others, 
is  absolute  in  the  mind  of  the  Anglo-American.  Freer  and 
more  cosmopolitan  in  the  Valley  than  elsewhere,  the  Ameri- 
can citizen  there  banishes  the  prejudice  or  partial  views  tiiat 
may  offend  other  sections.  lie  is  deeply  interested  in  unity 
of  territory,  of  business  and  of  feeling. 

So  tlie  country  is  united  in  the  Valley  by  all  the  cords  of 
character,  of  sympathy,  of  policy,  and  of  interest  which  bind 
a  community  into  what  we  call  a  nation.  With  the  close  of 
the  war,  time  only  was  wanted  to  produce  the  strongest 
national  sentiment  known  to  history.  The  free  operation  of 
the  laws  of  association  disposed  of  every  evil  existing  before,' 
or  cultivated  by,  the  war,  and  the  powerful  influences  that 
brought  the  great  work  of  reconciliation  near  to  a  conclusion 
in  twelve  years  after  its  close  with  a  celerity  and  irresistible 
force  known  only  to  American  annals,  were,  in  largest  pan, 
those  springing  from  the  Valley. 

It  has  nearly  eliminated  the  Southern  question,  the  negro 
question,  the  States  rights  question,  from  politics.  The  Valley 
requires  national  union,  a  harmonious  but  a  decentralized 
government — an  indissoluble  union,  but  one  which  cares  ror 
all  interests,  cultivates  earnest  common  sympathies,  and  leaves 
each  locality  to  attend  solely  to  local  affairs. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE    NEW    UNITY    OF    THE    VALLEY. 


The  development  of  commerce  on  the  Lakes  and  its  mnvo- 
nient  through  the  Erie  canal  eastward  emphasized  the  growing 
tendency  of  the  country  to  divide  on  "  Masons  and  Dixon's 
Line "  into  North  and  South.  Industries,  commerce  and 
politics,  social,  civil  and  financial  differences,  tended  to  over- 
ride and  disregard  some  of  the  natural  unities  founded  on 
geological  and  geographical  bas-"  x'his  tendency  was  resisted 
by  the  river  system  until  the  railroad  system  was  developed, 
when  the  loosening  of  the  bonds  between  the  upper  and  lower 
basins  of  the  Valley  became  the  ruling  feature.  They  were 
separated  by  temporary  interests  even  more  effectually 
than  by  political  contests.  The  course  of  trade  united  all 
the  free  States  and  secured  their  success  in  the  civil  war 
It  was  a  fortunate  coincidence  for  the  permanence  of  tin 
Union. 

"With  the  close  of  the  war  all  natural  unities  began  to  re- 
assert themselves.  The  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the  Valley 
were  sufficiently  various  in  productions  to  prevent  their  being 
nvaLs  in  the  markets  of  the  East  and  of  the  world;  they  had 
mutual  interests  of  exchange  and  of  commerce  that  must 
grow  larger  with  every  year;  they  could  assist  each  other's 
development  effectually  in  many  ways,  and  their  greatest 
future  welfare  required  that  they  sbonld  be  as  closely  united 
by  social,  political  and  business  ties  as  they  were  by  unbroken 
slopes  and  levels,  and  by  waterways. 

The  lake  system  and  relations  with  the  manufactures  and 
commerce  of  the  Northern  Atlantic  States  were  only  two 
among  the  numerous  connections  of  the  great  Valley.  It  was 
a  question  if  the  relations  instituted  by  the  Mexican  Gulf 

496 


now    THE    RAILWAY    PROMOTES    UNITY.  497 

would  not  soon  become  even  more  important  than  those  with 
the  Is^ortli  Atlantic. 

This  tendency  to  unity  had  been  strong  enough  to  produce 
the  Louisiana  purchase  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  and 
it  made  tlie  prosperity  of  the  Valley  in  the  early  periods. 
The  permanent  relations  began  to  regain  their  influence  and  a 
new  unit}-  was  developed.  The  commerce  of  the  rivers  must 
still  be  comparatively  unimportant  for  some  decades  ;  but 
the  necessary  preparations  that  were  to  Ijring  out  the  full 
value  of  the  river  system  and  the  gulf  commerce  commenced 
at  once.  In  the  early  stage  of  their  development  the  railroad 
and  telegraph  had  been  powerful  agents  of  disunion  ;  they 
now  spread  impartially  over  the  whole  surface  and  still  more 
powerfully  promoted  the  consolidation  of  every  part  of  the 
Valley  into  a  single  business  community  whose  great  general 
interests  were  much  more  important  than  any  sectional  ones 
■could  be. 

The  flrst  great  movement  was  the  e.xtension  of  the  railroad 
sj'stem  to  complete  the  settlement  of  the  extreme  West  and 
Southwest,  which  soon  became  colossal.  Settlement  in  Ne- 
braska, Colorado  and  on  the  upper  Missouri  went  on  fast  but 
was  soon  much  inferior  to  that  in  Kansas,  Texas  and  the 
Southwest,  generally.  Chicago  became  a  market  of  import- 
ance to  Texas,  and  its  business  with  St.  Louis  was  very  large. 
The  railroad  and  telegraph  soon  bound  the  northern  and 
southern  Valley  more  closely  together  than  at  any  former 
period.  They  enlarged  the  field  of  Northern  activity  and 
opened  to  it  various  supplies  and  markets  in  the  South  and 
aided  the  South  in  its  distress  to  recover  from  the  destruction 
of  its  capital. 

These  movements  were  fairly  underway  when  the  tinancial 
crisis,  taat  had  long  been  hanging  like  a  black  cloud  in  the 
liorizon.  broke  in  storm  and  disaster  over  the  country.  The 
buildiiit,  of  railroads  beyond  the  paying  point,  the  diver- 
sion ot  an  immense  capital  from  active  business  in  their  con- 
st: 


498  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

struction,  the  vast  investments  in  manufactures  and  ma- 
chinery, overthrew  the  equilibrium  of  business.  The  whole 
country  suffered.  As  the  civilized  world  had  been  doing  the 
same  thing  the  trouble  was  almost  universal,  and  a  prolonged 
period  of  depression,  during  wliich  a  I'eadjustment  of  business 
and  finance  was  to  be  made,  commenced. 

It  was  a  period  of  great  distress  for  it  struck  at  the  incomes 
of  millions  of  men,  paralj'zed  most  manufactures  and  greatly 
reduced  the  activities  of  trade  and  the  earnings  of  capital. 
But  the  railroads  and  the  telegraph  proved  of  signal  value 
in  modifying  the  effects  of  the  disaster.  The  population 
thrown  out  of  labor  were  redistributed  on  a  large  scale;  their 
vast  activities  continued,  though  at  a  reduction  of  gain,  and 
never,  in  the  history  of  the  country,  had  a  larger  space  of 
virgin  land  been  turned  into  fruitful  fields.  The  East,  Eu- 
rope and  the  25,000,000  to  30,000,000  of  the  Valley  itself 
must  be  fed  and  the  Valley  farmers  were  still  prosperous,  if 
they  gained  less  than  before  on  equal  amounts  raised. 

During  this  time  the  shrinking  of  values  was  great,  and 
the  losses  of  the  extreme  East  and  the  extreme  "West,  that  is, 
the  parts  of  the  country  outside  of  the  Valley,  were  immense. 
They  were  to  be  counted  by  hundreds  of  millions;  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  Valley  did  not  gain.  Least  of  all  to  suffer 
were  the  South  and  Southwest.  They  had  time  to  build  up 
and  create  resources  for  the  future;  what  they  produced  was 
salable  and  stagnation  elsewhere  favored  the  flow  of  both  cap- 
ital and  labor  to  them.  But  most  of  all  did  the  agricultural 
interest — the  great  specialty  of  the  Valley' — show  its  supe- 
riority in  solidity — its  power  to  resist  shocks — over  manufac- 
turing and  commercial  pursuits.  Incomes  migiit  be  smaller 
but  the  most  that  was  required  for  a  comfortable  living  was 
raised  by  the  individual  farmer;  expenses  not  essential  to 
comfort  might  be  diminished,  and,  as  a  vast  surplus  must 
.  necessarily  be  in  demand  to  feed  others,  there  must  always 
be  a  moderate  income  beyond  his  own  needs.     It  was  usually 


THE    VALLEY    IN    A    FINANCIAL    STOEM.-  499 

easy  to  preserve  the  ordinary  relation  of  income  to  outgo  aiid 
the  more  economical  habits  gradually  acquired  were  equiva- 
lent, in  the  section  itself,  to  a  large  increase  of  income. 

Thus,  while  the  crisis  greatly  diminished  the  capital  and 
the  income  of  other  sections,  it  probably  virtually  increased 
both  in  the  Valley.  It  was  equivalent  to  a  transfer  of  both 
from  other  parts  to  the  Valley,  for  there  was  actual  loss  else- 
where and  actual  gain  here.  Besides,  the  positive  wealth  wa* 
increased  by  the  extensive  opening  of  new  sources  of  income, 
and  by  the  transfer  of  capital  and  labor  to  this  field,  where  it 
could  be  most  profitably  employed.  Thus  did  the  Vallev 
"  Come  to  the.  Front!"  It  had  a  stable  base  founded  on  the 
most  pressing  and  permanent  necessities  of  mankind.  Prob- 
ably the  financial  crisis  was  a  means  of  enriching  it  by  many 
Imndreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 

By  the  new  development  it  had  ac(|uired  much  greater 
independence.  It  united  in  itself  agriculture  and  manufac- 
tures, and  the  yet  undeveloped  capacities  of  its  commerce 
could  be  looked  after.  If  it  was  not  already  so  it  could  be- 
come a  real  world  and  country  in  itself,  in  a  broader  sense 
than  the  East  or  the  West;  this  capacity  gave  it  the  character 
of  a  vast  and  stable  nucleus  to  the  wIk^Ic  country.  It  had, 
by  far,  the  largest  part  of  the  solid  unchangeable  values;  the 
natural,  as  opposed  to  the  conventional,  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try. It  was  the  vast  rock  under  which  the  rest  of  the  country 
took  refuge  from  the  fury  of  the  storm;  it  had  the  realizable 
assets  from  which  were  to  come  the  reconstruction  of  national 
and  business  finance  after  their  demoralization.  With  it* 
resources  they  could  not  possibly  become  bankrupt. 

The  great  development  of  the  Valley  after  the  war,  and  the 
closer  and  more  profitable  relations  of  all  its  parts,  gave  anew 
unity  to  the  whole  country.  Sectional  issues  disappeared,  or 
tended  strongly  to  vanish.  The  most  favorable  feature  of  it& 
influence  on  the  Republic  and  on  modern  liberal  progress  had 
always  been  its  tendency  to  consolidate  the  country  by  inter- 


500  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAXLET. 

est — a  centralization  of  much  greater  permanence  and  value 
than  that  resting  in  government.  It  ever  tended  to  liberal- 
ize and  disperse  political  power  while  increasing  the  adhesive 
tendencies  of  the  Federal  units  in  an  equal  degree.  This  was, 
and  will  continue  to  be,  the  true  centralization  of  the  country. 
It  has  no  great  interests  unfriendly  to  those  of  the  East  or 
West.  Their  development,  each  in  its  own  line,  is  its  pros- 
perity and  its  own  resources  enter  a  hundred  fold  more  largely 
into  the  prosperity  of  those  sections  than  any  other  whatever. 
They  would  each  become  comparatively  insignificant  without 
the  Valley,  and  the  Valley  would  be  unable  to  dispose  of  but 
a  small  portion  of  its  vast  products  without  them.  It  consol- 
idates and  centralizes  the  country  under  the  most  liberal  nat- 
ural laws,  which  are  never  oppressive  or  tyrannical.  It  can 
not  have  an  interest  in  depriving  the  other  sections  of  any 
degree  of  freedom  or  any  source  of  wealth;  and  the  continual 
demand  of  its  people  and  business  is  for  the  largest  freedom 
consistent  with  equity.  True  centralization  means  the  widest 
and  most  perfect  harmony  of  interests. 

The  new  unity  of  the  Valley  has  fairly  commenced  under 
the  universal  spread  of  railroads  and  telegraphs,  and  the  result- 
ing generalization  of  interests;  it  has,  however,  only  begun; 
its  great  results  are  in  the  future.  The  wealth  now  locked 
up  in  Texas,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and 
other  States,  is  to  become  of  great  importance  to  the  States 
of  the  northern  basin.  The  exchanges  are  now  great  and 
profitable,  but  when  they  have  increased  a  hundred  fold — as 
they  probably  will  have  done  by  the  close  of  the  century — a 
much  more  complete  reciprocity  of  interests  will  be  estab- 
lished. It  will  be  vastly  increased  by  the  commerce  of  the 
river  and  the  Gulf  coast  with  outside  countries,  for  then  the 
overflowing  fruits  of  ag-riculture  and  manufactures  in  the 
center  and  the  north  will  roll  in  a  great  flood  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  parts  of  the  Valley  will  be  welded  together  by 
community  of  interests  and  of  friendly  sympathies  based  on 
them. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE    PAST    AND    PRESENT    OF    AMEKICAN    HISTOET. 

The  people  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  American  Re- 
public, and  in  wiiose  character  lay  its  great  destiny,  came  from 
a  strong  stock.  It  was  chiefly  by  various  branches  of  this 
race  that  the  Roman  Empire  was  dismembered,  and  under 
their  rule  modern  civilization  was  gradually  organized;  their 
blood  invigorated  the  degenerate  Latin  races,  and  their  intel- 
ligence adopted  many  of  the  best  features  of  the  ancient 
civilization.  Their  rude  energy  nowhere  had  a  better  train- 
ing or  preserved  more  of  its  best  force  than  in  the  British 
Isles  in  contest  against  the  Celt  or  mingling  their  blood  with 
his.  Celtic  vivacity  and  fire  gave  something  of  liveliness 
and  animation  to  Teutonic  strenjrth,  and  the  modern  English- 
man  .came  forth  the  most  stirring,  sensible  and  progressive 
of  races. 

The  modifications  of  this  race  in  America  proved  to  be  in 
a  very  favorable  direction.  The  conservative  Englishman  was 
recast  in  America  by  a  variety  of  influences  during  which  all 
his  latent  tendencies  to  radicalism  were  called  into  active  play. 
What  he  inherited  from  Europe  he  tested  by  its  usefulness 
under  the  new  conditions  ;  he  dug  deeper  and  founded  Eng- 
lish liberties  on  natural  rights ;  he  reasserted  himself,  claimed 
all  his  rights  as  a  man,  and  constructed  new  institutions,  as 
far  as  circumstances  permitted,  on  the  most  radical  principles. 
The  tenacity,  vigor  and  moderation  with  which  he  held  to 
this  direction  after  it  was  undertaken  offered  something  new 
in  the  history  of  nations  and  the  result  was  remarkable. 

It  was  not  possible  to  carry  theory  into  fact,  in  all  directions 
at  once;  perhaps  some  of  the  theories  bordered  on  the  limits 
of  the  impossible  ;  but  the  idea  was  enunciated  and  practical 

501 


502  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

■wisdom  set  at  work  to  embody  it  as  far  as  might  be.  Tlie  re- 
sult was  worthy  of  admiration  and  reverence  as  a  foundation 
and  the  cliiidren  proved  fairly  worthy  of  the  fathers.  The  two 
leading  types  of  Anglo-Americans  are  found  in  the  English 
yeoman  and  the  English  gentleman  ;  the  early  American 
types  afterwards  transferred  to  the  Valley  and  controlling  its 
development  were  the  New  Englander  and  the  Virginian. 
They  expanded  very  happily  and  in  tolerable  harmony  in  the 
Valley.  Not  even  slavery  could  give  them  a  fundamental 
divergence;  the  Southerner  was  a  true  and  faithful  republi- 
can, so  far  as  his  own  race  was  concerned;  and  the  Virginian 
who  emigrated  from  Kentucky  or  Tennessee  to  the  free 
States  was  not  excelled  by  the  descendant  of  the  New 
Englander  or  the  Pennsylvanian  in  devotion  to  American 
theories. 

In  leading  traits  of  character  the  types  completely  mingled 
and  fused  in  the  free  life  and  severe  toil  of  the  pioneer  ])eri- 
ods.  Their  thoughts,  views  and  tendencies  flowed  together 
and  in  time  became  identical.  In  fact,  all  the  early  Presidents 
but  one  were  of  the  Virginia  type,  and  excellent  samples  of 
genuine  Americans.  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  were  not 
excelled  by  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  in  lofty  patriotism. 
If  one  had  the  somewhat  stern  logic  and  morality  of  the 
English  Puritan  and  the  other  the  looser  views  and  graceful 
dignity  of  the  Cavalier  they  had  equally  English  good  sense  in 
practical  life,  and  when  brought  together  in  the  new  settlements 
all  distinction  was  soon  lost  in  the  one  American  type. 
This  combination  was  most  excellent  and  fully  carried  on  the 
original  tendency  of  American  development.  The  conti- 
nental or  interior  American  was  flexible,  freer  from  prejudices, 
wider  in  his  sympatliies  and  broader  in  his  views;  at  the  same 
time  he  was  strong  of  will,  active  and  ingenious  in  execution 
and  of  landaunted  boldness.  It  was  a  combination  to  control 
and  mould  the  millions  of  foreigners  who  hastened  to  the 
rich  lands  of  the  free  West,  and  was  entirely  successful.     No 


DIVEEGENCE    OF   TYPES    NOT    REAL.  503 

equally  excellent  union  of  amiable  aud  vigorous  qualities  has 
ever  before  been  observ^ed. 

This  union  of  American  types  is  not  yet  completely  effected, 
for  the  labor  system  of  the  South  isolated  it  and  gave  prom- 
inence there  to  the  aristocratic  tone  of  Virginia  ;  but  the 
American  was  there  ;  slavery  proved  to  be  only  an  incident, 
a  temporary  disturbance,  or  arrest  of  one  side  of  Southern 
character,  and  the  removal  of  it  left  the  underlying  tendencies 
free  to  develop.  Nor  has  slavery  been  altogether  a  misfor- 
tune. Many  admirable  traits  grew  up  in  Southern  character. 
It  became  expansive,  social,  open-handed  and  generous.  If 
the  sweetness  turned  to  vinegar,  and  open-hearted  frankness 
to  hatred  and  defiance  toward  the  North,  it  was  largely  the 
result  of  the  situation;  of  an  antagonism  of  interests  and  re- 
lations that  inade  many  of  the  excellencies  of  each  defects  to 
the  other.  The  disagreements, .enmities  and  destructive  con- 
tests of  nations,  classes  and  individuals,  which  fill  tlie  pages  of 
liistor}'  and  spread  misery  through  the  world,  are  mostly  the 
result  of  such  unfortunate  situations,  such  unnatural  antag- 
onisms. 

Yet,  nowhere  has  so  large  a  population  passed  through  a 
■century  with  so  little  of  fatal  collision,  and  for  the  simple 
reason  that  there  has  been  intimate  intercourse,  liealthy,  stir- 
ring life  and  a  fair  acquaintance  with  each  other.  But  the 
antagonism  of  the  two  labor  systems  was  absolute  and  uncon- 
trollable. Compromises  were  only  possible  while  there  was  a 
balance  of  power  between  them.  They  could  not  exist  to- 
gether; they  must  draw  a  conventional  line  and  arrest  the  op- 
eration of  natural  laws;  it  was  not  possible  to  arrange  a  basis 
of  mutual  interest.  When  this  element  of  necessary  disunion 
is  thrown  out  and  all  Americans  can  circulate  among  each 
■other,  when  the  laws  of  common  interest  can  operate  freelj', 
they  find  that  there  is  no  real  diversity  of  type.  The  sections 
discover  that  they  have  the  qualities,  the  natural  harmonies 
of  interest,  of  one  family.     The  interest  of  one  is  really  the 


504 


TDE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


interest  of  all,  and  each  had  the  admirable  qualities  of  the- 
common  ancestors.  Many  Southerners  felt  after  the  war  that 
they  could  endure  relations  with  foreigners  better  than  with 
Americans  in  contest  with  whom  they  had  failed,  and  emi- 
grated to  other  countries;  but  they  found  they  had  more 
things  in  common  and  more  chances  of  success  with  Ameri- 
can opponents  than  with  foreign  friends. 

So  the  past  and  present  of  American  history  shows,  from 
whatever  point  viewed,  that  Americans  have  been  run  in  a 
common  mould;  that  the  influences  guiding  the  growth  of 
character  and  of  ideas  have  identified  them,  brought  them 
together,  even  when  they  seemed  very  different  from  each 
other,  and  far  apart.  Americans  of  all  sections  are  most  truly 
and  distinctly  parts  of  one  nation.  They  have  the  real  sym- 
pathies, ideas,  capacities  and  common  interests  that  go  to  con- 
stitute one  community,  one  people  and  one  race.  From  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  British  America  to  the  Gulf,  this 
has  proved  to  be  the  case  in  every  period.  The  Valley  and 
the  East  have  not  grown  apart,  but  together;  they  are  and 
have  been  essentially  one  people.  Americans  on  the  Paeific 
are  only  locally  and  slightly  different  from  other  Americans, 
and  every  indication  goes  to  show  that,  as  soon  as  memories 
of  contest  and  bloodshed  and  great  losses  can  fade  and  grow 
dim  under  the  influence  of  time  and  a  new  prosperity,  the 
South  and  the  North  will  be  equally  harmonious.  Unity 
and  homogeneousness  have  been  the  great  dominating  fea- 
tures of  American  growth. 

The  American  idea  was  that  of  a  political  equality  which 
should  give  to  each  man  weight  and  influence  in  the  control 
of  public  measures  that  affected  himself.  All  Englishmen  had 
recognized  personal  rights,  but  they  were  restricted  Ity  the 
aristocratic  organization  of  society  and  the  confinement  of 
political  power  to  the  more  fortunate  classes.  The  absolute 
form  in  which  the  rights  <jf  man  were  claimed  in  the  Declar- 
ation of  Independence  gave  great  definiteness  to  the  popular 


THE    AMERICAN    IDEA    OF    MANHOOD.  505- 

conception  of  liberty  among  a  people  freeing  themselves  from 
foreign  control  and  establisliinij  new  institutions.  Thev  were 
too  prudent  and  practical  to  go  to  the  same  extreme  as  the 
French  people  in  their  revolution;  iMit  they  did  not  lose  sight 
of  the  idea;  they  carried  it  out  as  far  as  it  seemed  practicable 
without  injuring  established  order  at  the  time.  Universal, 
or  manhood,  suffrage  was  limited  still  to  some  extent  by  prop- 
erty conditions;  but  the  idea  was  fixed  and  made  way  as  to  the 
white  population.  There  was  very  little  restriction  in  the 
West. 

Popular  discretion  and  judgment  were  distrusted  at  first, 
and  checks  to  it  were  devised ;  but  these  became  a  dead  letter, 
or  were  removed,  in  the  course  of  time,  and  the  people  were 
more  and  more  regarded  as  masters  whose  will  was  to  be  con- 
stantly consulted  and  respected.  The  dangers  of  ignorance 
through  the  influence  of  unprincipled  men  have  always  troub- 
led American  statesmen  and  patriots,  but  they  have  never 
been  able  to  restrict  suffrage;  and  so  general  did  tlie  idea  of 
manhood  rights  become  that  the  ruling  majority  at  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War  conferred  the  right  to  vote  on  all  the  freed- 
men  who  had  just  escaped  from  the  utter  ignorance  of  slavery. 
It  seemed  to  many  ruinous,  as  the  liberal  naturalization  laws 
and  gift  of  suffrage  to  the  ignorant  had  seemed  to  others  in 
earlier  periods. 

This  constant  extension  of  suffrage  rights  had  its  inconven- 
iences and  dangers.  Corruption  and  abuses  were  frequently 
the  result  in  the  cities  and  the  mass  of  the  coloreil  ]ieople 
admitted  to  the  ballot  box  depended  on  others  for  guidance. 
Their  entire  want  of  definite  ideas  and  experience  rendered 
them  incapable  of  independent  intelligent  action.  How  is  it 
that  the  American  Ship  of  State  has  not  foundered  on  this 
rock?  It  has  been  often  thought  there  was  imminent  danger, 
yet  the  catastn^phe  has  never  befallen.  The  Southern  States, 
re-admitted  to  the  Union  with  so  may  ignorant  voters  and 
restored  to  the  hands  of  the  Southern  whites  who  maintained 


■506  THE  MISSISSIPPI  valley. 

tlie  war  for  the  Confederacy,  disapproved  that  extension  of 
the  franchise  on  every  ground;  yet  it  was  maintained  with- 
out fatal  results,  and  seems  likely  to  be  quite  as  harmless,  in 
the  long  run,  as  the  naturalization  of  foreigners  in  earlier  times. 

It  would  certainly  have  been  a  dangerous  experiment  any- 
where else;  the  fortunate  result  is  due  to  the  superiority  of 
natural  over  conventional  law.  Social  and  political  organiza- 
tions have  an  overplus  of  vital  and  conservative  forces,  as 
vegetables  and  animals  have.  They  can  overcome  difficulties 
and  correct  errors,  expel  obstructions  or  conform  to  new  con- 
ditions as  a  human  body  can  expel  disease  or  become  accli- 
mated. A  law  of  equilibrium  is  observed  in  all  nature  and  it 
is  only  necessary  that  it  be  allowed  to  act  freely  to  maintain 
all  things  in  place.  American  institutions  and  habits  have 
been  more  perfectly  conformed  to  natural  law  than  any  other, 
and  the  self-regulating  principle  has  been  allowed  its  widest 
possible  range.  It  has  saved  the  country  in  every  peril.  This 
freedom  of  action  was  almost  unlimited  in  the  North,  while  it 
was  set  aside  in  all  things  that  related  to  slavery  in  the  South. 
The  result  was  a  growth  incomparably  greater  and  stronger 
in  the  North,  and  a  trial  of  that  comparative  strength  must 
inevitably  be  against  the  South,  while  a  fiee  development 
would  have  left  the  sections  fairly  equal. 

The  American  system  has  a  healthy  vigor  and  fullness  of 
vitality  equal  to  every  possible  difficulty.  The  general  judg- 
ments of  the  American  mind  reveal  a  clearness  and  accuracy 
of  estimate  that  renders  fatal  catastrophes  quite  impossible. 
There  being  little  restraint  on  party  or  individual  action  they 
can  accommodate  themselves  to  all  circumstances  and  crises. 
There  is  a  much  clearer  com])rehension  of  political  issues  than 
the  amount  of  general  education  would  measure,  for  Ameri- 
cans are  educated  the  most  fully  on  political  topics,  and  possess 
a  vast  amount  of  political  sagacity  and  tact.  They  have  the 
excellent  gift  of  allowing  things  to  take  their  course  when  no 
jnatter  of  immediate  personal  interest  or  public  peril  is  in- 


GOOD  SENSK  AND  MANLINESS  IN  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN.     507 

volved,  and  quietly  pursue  personal  ends;  but  when  a  serious 
danger  threatens  they  spring  into  action.  They  have  also 
something  of  tlie  shrewdness  and  iinpassiveness  of  the  Eng- 
lish, of  their  disinclination  to  disturb  the  existing  order,  to 
make  the  best  of  a  situation  lest  hasty  action  should  make  a 
worse.  Discontent  commonly  contents  itself  with  discussion, 
grumbling,  prophesying  evil,  acting  with  the  party  and  really 
making  the  best  of  things  as  they  are.  So  Americans  really 
do  very  few  important  things  in  haste. 

The  ignorant  and  degraded,  on  obtaining  the  right  of  suf- 
frage, are  raised  in  their  own  esteem  and  are  treated  with 
consideration  by  parties  and  politicians.  Gradually  they 
learn  to  think  and  judge  correctly  in  politics  even  if  igno- 
rant as  to  other  things.  There  is  always  less  ignorance  on 
critical  subjects  than  appears  on  the  surface,  and  a  man  treated 
as  such  soon  feels  and  acts  as  such  ;  learns  to  discriminate 
within  reasonable  bounds  and  to  be  amenable  to  reason  in 
general.  Thus  the  country  that  recognizes  a  man^  as  such, 
finds  that  she  has  a  vast  sum  of  manliness  when  tluit  equality 
is  pressingly  needed.  There  is  no  possible  danger  from  which 
the  quality  she  has  so  carefully  cultivated  will  not  save  her. 

Not  that  there  has  appeared  a  miracle  of  purity,  dignity 
and  nobility  in  the  details  of  American  history.  Men  have 
been  still  more  or  less  vicious;  more  or  less  forgetful  of  high 
aims  in  pursuing  individual  ends.  Every  generation  has 
feared  and  cried  out  against  its  own  evils,  which  have  been 
neither  few  nor  small.  Improvement  has  been  as  impercep- 
tible as  natural  growth  always  is,  and  it  has  been  the  less  no- 
ticeable that  it  has  been  general.  Great  crises  that  awaken 
enthusiasm  produce  a  glow  and  brightness  among  its  nobler 
men  which  renders  them  distinguished,  and  early  American 
history  was  remarkable  for  many  men  distinguished  for  high- 
mindedness.  Later  times,  for  the  most  part,  have  less  raised 
individuals  to  special  renown  than  elevated  the  tone  of  the 
whole  people  so  that  they  appreciated  the  noble  work  done 


508  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VAiLET. 

by  tlie  founders  of  the  Republic,  and,  amidst  all  the  selfish 
interests  and  rivalries  of  ordinary  life,  sustained  it  and  carried 
it  forward  toward  completion.  That  is  the  greatest  possible 
praise,  especially  when  there  was  unusual  freedom  to  pursue 
selfish  interests. 

The  general  system  reacts  favorably  on  men;  the  adjust- 
ment leaves  every  man  to  live  out  his  own  life;  the  responsi- 
bility for  maintaining  order  and  justice  has  been  thrown  on 
the  general  public  and  has  required  men  to  think  and  act  for 
the  general  welfare.  All  these  have  appealed  to  the  good 
sense  and  better  nature  of  common  citizens  sufficiently  to 
lead  them  to  act  in  a  higher  strain  than  any  people  have  ever 
done  before.  On  the  wIkjIc,  there  has  been  a  large  average 
of  true  progress  with  every  generation  since  the  settlements 
of  the  English  colonies  in  America  commenced. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

THE    GRAND    EXPEKIMENT    AND    EUROPEAN    DEMOCRACY. 

American  democracy  was  transplanted  from  Europe.  It 
had  its  remote  root  in  the  nature  of  races  wliich  refused  tu 
accept  civilization,  as  did  the  old  Asiatic  and  many  later  races, 
at  the  hands  of  an  absolute  despotism.  They  maintained 
many  liberties  as  progress  among  them  went  on.  Yet,  the 
royal,  the  noble,  the  rich  and  the  educated  classes  gathered 
the  most  of  the  public  power  into  their  hands  during  Feudal 
times  and  for  centuries  later,  even  where  the  independent  spirit 
was  strongest  in  the  people.  As  learning  spread  and  became 
more  thorough  and  true,  and  as  the  increasing  range  of  activ- 
ity and  gain  demanded  more  freedom  of  action,  both  theory 
and  interest  revived  the  original  self-assertion  of  the  primitive 
man.  A  movement  against  privileged  classes,  among  those  of 
the  people  who  felt  themselves  mentally  their  equals  or  su- 
periors, was  quickened  by  the  arrogance  with  which  those 
classes  asserted  their  conventional' superiority  and  their 
actual  power,  and  this  formed  the  beginning  of  an  intelligent 
democracy  in  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe. 

Yet,  society  was  so  firmly  constructed  on  class  rule  that  a 
real  and  true  democracy  could  not  hope  to  succeed.  The 
larger  masses  of  the  people  were  too  humble,  too  ignorant, 
too  powerless  and  too  much  intimidated  by  the  splendors  of 
power  and  rank  to  rise  against  them  except  in  the  blind  fury 
of  passion  at  some  extreme  injustice  to  sink  back  into  their 
ordinary  submission  when  a  temporary  vengeance  had  been 
taken  or  attempted.  Many  Europeans  who  settled  in  the 
English  colonies  were  of  the  few  who  disputed  the  principle 
of  class  rule  and  who  sought  relief  from  a  galling  oppression. 
They  were  intelligent,  energetic  and  sutiiciently  numerous 

509 


510  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

and  influential  to  lay  new  foundations  in  the  wild  solitudes 
of  tlie  New  World. 

Yet,  the  theory  that  only  the  higlier  of  classes  a  nation 
were  capable  of  governing  it,  continued  to  maintain  its  place 
almost  universally  in  Europe,  and  much  pride  of  caste  found 
its  way  acnoss  the  sea.  European  notions  of  respectability 
and  rank  were  fostered  by  the  form  of  colonial  governments 
and  their  connection  with  the  mother  country,  and  held  no 
small  place  in  the  public  mind  down  to  the  times  of  the 
Revolution. 

To  establish  so  complete  a  democracy  was  to  undertake  an 
experiment ;  it  was  to  bring  the  radical  theories  of  scholars 
and  the  aspirations  of  the  lower  classes  to  a  final  test.  At 
that  time,  indeed,  few  scholars  dared  to  go  so  far  even  in 
theory;  and  the  people,  as  masses,  had  scarcely  conceived  such 
a  complete  change  as  possible.  But  the  higher  tone,  great 
independence  and  intelligence  of  the  common  people  in  the 
colonies  would- not  have  permitted  organization  on  a  strictly 
European  modeh  The  whole  tendency  of  life  in  the  New 
World  was  to  bring  the  different  classes  nearer  to  a  common 
level;  but  still  it  was  with  many  misgivings,  and  because  no 
other  plan  could  be  agreed  upon,  that  all  class  distinctions 
were  swept  away  from  the  political  field  as  to  the  white,  or 
European  i-ace,  but  property  conditions  still  limited  the  number 
of  voters,  and  various  checks  to  injudicious  and  hasty  popular 
action  were  devised. 

The  separation  of  the  settlements  into  colonies  independent 
of  each  other,  favored  popular  liberty  and  a  democratic  or- 
ganization ot  the  General  Government.  These,  as  States, 
unwillingly  accepted  a  superior  ;  allowed  it  control  over 
none  but  the  most  general  interests,  to  reserve  the  field, 
as  much  as  possible,  to  State  control.  In  the  States  the  people 
were  strong  without  being  violent,  but  asserted  themselves 
with  emphasis.  All  things  were  favorable  to  the  experiment 
of  a  government  founded  on  the  political  equality  of  its  citi- 


RESULT    OF    THE    DEMOCRATIC    EXPERIMENT.  511 

zens,  and  it  went  into  operation  on  a  basis  sutiiciently  broad 
to  make  it  a  real  test  of  tlie  capacity  of  the  masses  of  the 
people  for  self-government. 

The  success  of  the  experiment  would  naturally  be  declared 
by  persistence  in  maintaining  the  system  and  by  general  pros- 
perity under  it.  A  hundred  years  after  independence  was 
declared,  and  ninety  years  after  the  system  was  formally  or- 
ganized in  detail  by  the  Constitution,  found  the  system  more 
tirnily  seated  than  ever  and  the  prosperity  through  the  century, 
as  a  whole,  entirely  unexampled  in  the  history  of  nations, 
both  for  breadth  and  volume.  The  old  theory  was,  that  the 
people  were,  and  could  only  be,  minors,  who  must  be  kept 
under  the  guardianship  and  government  of  the  intelligent 
classes — that  is  those  who,  by  birth,  advantages  and  success 
in  life,  were  assumed  to  be  alone  capable  of  seeing  what  was 
best  for  them. 

The  new  theory  declared  that  all  men  had  an  equal  right 
to  decide  what  was  best  for  themselves,  to  select  the  de- 
positaries and  agents  of  public  power,  to  manage  all  common 
interests  among  themselves  and  to  demand  that  no  artificial 
barriers  should  shut  them  out  from  the  contest  for  the  ])rizes 
of  life. 

The  success  of  the  Republic  has  been  accepted  by  the  world 
as  a  decisive  condemnation  of  the  old  theory  of  government. 
America  is  stronger  by  all  the  practice  in  statesmanship  of 
its  masses,  by  all  the  intelligence  and  self-respect  this  practice 
has  developed,  by  the  wider  and  more  equable  distribution 
of  its  wealth,  and  by  all  the  business  energies  and  skill  it  has 
given  freer  play  and  a  larger  field.  This  success  is  not  only 
the  pride  and  happiness  of  the  American  people  ;  it  has 
solved  the  problem  of  the  world.  It  has  not  only  shown  that 
the  people  can  take  better  care  of  their  own  interests  than 
self-appointed  guardians,  but  also  how  they  can  become 
strong,  intelligent  and  persistent  enough  to  maintain  personal 
and  national  rights.     They  have  grown  up  in  the  sight  of 


-512 


TUE    MISSISSI1>I>I    VALLEY. 


the  world  from  three  inillions  of  poor  agriculturists,  strug- 
jrlintr  for  a  liriri  foothold  on  the  borders  of  the  continent,  to 
near  fifty  millions,  with  almost  a  thousand  millions  of  prop- 
erty to  each  million  of  inhabitants,  their  republic  seated 
securely  in  the  heart  of  the  continent,  ruling  from  ocean  to 
•  ocean,  and  just  prepared  to  enter  on  the  full  development  of 
its  colossal  resources,  only  at  the  threshold  of  a  great  and 
brilliant  career  of  the  truest  and  most  solid  progress. 

Europe  is  also  progressive,  for  democracy  did  not  lose  all 
its  advocates,  notwithstanding  multitudes  of  them  came  to 
settle  America.  Through  the  nineteenth  century,  especially, 
it  has  drifted  fast  toward  liberal  forms  of  government.  Its 
progress  was  necessarily  slow,  for  it  had  the  organizations  and 
theories  that  had  been  accumulating  for  eighteen  centuries  to 
modify.  This  work  of  preparation  was  the  main  feature  until 
1860.  but  the  following  fifteen  years  indicated  that  it  had  com- 
menced the  work  of  a  massive  reconstruction.  The  modifica- 
tion of  institutions  and  modes  of  government  began  to  take 
large  proportions  and  the  re-distribution  of  power  was  very 
general  throughout  Euro])e. 

The  more  striking  events  wiiich  indicated  the  direction  and 
strength  of  the  tendencies  that  were  everywhere  liberalizing 
governments  and  transferring  power  from  the  privileged  classes 
to  the  people  at  large — or  to  ever  larger  masses  outside  those 
orders — were  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  in  Russia,  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  Republic  in  France,  and  the  development  of 
constitutional  monarchies  into  distinct  and  pronounced  par- 
liamentary governments.  The  village  communities  of  the 
Russian  peasants  had  always  preserved  some  of  the  forms  and 
memories  of  a  democratic  government  among  the  lower  orders 
of  the  people.  They  had  not  been  pei-mitted  very  much  real 
and  vital  action,  except  in  the  economy  of  the  labor  system, 
until  property  in  serfs  was  abolished  by  this  act  of  emancipa- 
tion. That  gave  them  a  chance  to  become  a  living  democratic 
-organization,  and  made  it  possible  for  a  large  amount  of  free- 


.PJ^"- 


RISE    OF    DEMOCRACY    IN    EUROPE.  513 

dom  to  be  dispersed  among  the  masses  of  the  people.  It  was 
the  date  of  a  new  era  for  a  great  nation,  although  the  changes 
sure  to  grow  out  of  it  must  occupy  some  generations. 

The  establishment  of  the  French  Republic,  ten  years  later, 
was  accomplished  with  the  suddenness  and  completeness  char- 
acteristic of  that  nation.  It  occurred  at  the  moment  of  great 
military  disasters,  and  while  the  country  was  being  invaded  by 
a  foreign  army;  but  the  Kepublic  distinguished  its  first  years 
of  power  by  three  acts  of  great  wisdom  and  prudence,  which 
apparently  settled  it  on  a  firmer  basis  than  any  European 
Republic  lias  ever  known  in  the  past.  It  suppressed  the  ex- 
treme radicals,  or  communists,  and  established  a  conservative 
Republic  with  a  parliamentary  government;  it  displayed  great 
ability  in  reconstructing  the  finances  and  restoring  the  mate- 
rial prosperity  of  the  country  after  the  immense  losses  of 
defeat  and  invasion,  and  a  great  indemnity  to  the  conqueror; 
and  it  preserved  great  moderation  in  the  contest  with  monarch- 
ical parties  which  sought  to  overthrow  it.  All  these  showed 
self-control  on  tlie  part  of  the  people,  and  a  strength  that 
promised  order  and  security  to  industry.  It  was  a  signal 
evidence  of  democratic  progress  in  Europe. 

Popular  uprisings  against  despotism  just  previous  to  1850, 
and  the  concessions  made  to  quiet  them  by  monarchical  gov- 
ernments in  the  ten  years  following,  had  secured  Constitutions 
'♦regulating  the  exercise  of  power  in  all  the  countries  of  South- 
ern and  Central  Europe.  These  concessions  were  followed  by 
the  loss  of  personal  control  over  the  legislative  and  executive 
branches  of  government  by  the  hereditary  ruler  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  ministry,  or  cabinet  of  officials,  whose  measures 
and  policy  must  be  in  accord  with  the  majority  of  the  legis- 
lature elected  by  the  voting  classes.  These  classes  now  in- 
cluded all.  at  least,  of  the  prosperous  in  the  community.  This 
i.s  called  a  "  parliamentary  "  government.  As  those  allowed  to 
vote  included  a  large  proportion  of  the  people,  and  their  dele- 
gates could  legally  control  and  determine  the  policy  of  the 
33 


514  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

government — a  modified  democracy  was  definitely  established. 
It  was  lonjr  before  this  svstem  came  into  jjood  woi-kintr  order, 
and  although  the  influence  of  the  higher  classes,  when  that 
was  done,  was  still  extremely  great  in  many  ways,  it  was, 
notwithstanding,  a  great  advance  toward  popular  government. 
England  has  had  a  parliamentary  government  for  nearly  three 
hundred  years,  although  the  basis  of  representation  in  the 
parliament  was  very  limited  until  1832,  and  the  aristocratic 
classes  are  still  largely  represented  in  it — an  American  would 
say  unduly.  Yet,  they  have  usually  been  very  patriotic  and 
liberal.  Since  1867  the  elective  franchise  has  been  extended, 
the  better  part  of  the  laboring  classes  hieing  now  represented 
as  well  as  the  more  prosperous  "  middle  "  classes. 

In  this  fifteen  years  public  opinion  has  become  the  virtual 
ruler  of  Europe.  This  public  opinion  leaves  cmt.  as  -a  direct 
influence,  many  of  those  who,  in  America,  have  as  much  weight 
by  their  votes  as  the  richest  gentleman  or  mustprosjiemus  mer- 
chant, manufacturer  or  farmer;  but  they  make  themselves  felt, 
through  combinations  and  associatiuiis,  as  a  growing  power,  and 
are  listened  to  from  fear,  if  from  no  higher  motive.  To  bring 
about  this  promising  state  of  things  the  example  and  pros- 
perity of  England  has  had  great  weight;  the  spread  of  wealth 
and  prosperity  to  larger  and  larger  numbers  has  contributed 
much  to  it;  and  a  better  understanding  of  the  principles  of 
political  science  generally  has  helped  greatly.  An  important 
influence  in  liberalizing  government  policy  in  Europe  has  been 
the  fear  of  revolutions,  of  which  there  were  so  many  in  the  first 
half  of  the  century;  and  the  necessity  of  courting  the  favor  of 
the  people  to  induce  them  to  support  the  large  armies  which 
every  European  government  feels  it  necessary  to  maintain  has 
helped  the  liberties  of  the  people  in  some  ways  while  hinder- 
ing them  in  others.  These  are  all  forces  purely  European,  and 
many  others  less  prominent  have  contributed  to  strengthen  the 
movement  toward  democratic  liberty;  but  one  of  the  strong- 
est influences  to  quicken  all  these  into  vigorous  and  rapid 


INFLUENCE    OF    AMEKICA    ON    EUROPK.  515 

action    has   been    the    success    of    the  grand    expeiiment   in 
America. 

European  thought,  culture  and  character  furnished  the  theo- 
ries and  the  men  to  develop  them,  and  sent  them  to  the  toil 
and  unrestricted  activities  of  the  New  World.  There  the  theo- 
ries were  worked  out  with  a  fullness  and  thoroughness  impos- 
sible in  an  old  society.  Europe  looked  on  half  doubting  and 
amazed,  but  much  moved.  The  first  great  reaction  was  on 
the  French,  who,  on  the  definite  establishment  of  the  Ameri- 
can Republic,  raised  the  cry  "  Liberty,  Fraternity,  Equality," 
swept  aside  all  established  order  and  reduced  all  its  people  to 
the  level  of  citizens  by  acts  of  the  most  terrible  and  bloody 
violence.  It  was  republicanism  gone  mad,  and  turned  man- 
kind sick  with  horror.  All  Europe  rose  against  it.  It  was 
incapable  of  the  wise  moderation  required  to  form  a  strong 
and  stable  organization,  and  failed,  leaving  a  stigma  of  shame 
and  guilt,  and  a  memory  of  fear  and  dread  to  the  name  of 
popular  liberty.  Yet  the  people  had  learned  that  they  were 
strong  and  the  Western  Republic  remained  unshaken  and 
prosperous.  The  e.xperimeiit  was  disastrous  in  the  one  case 
but  the  demonstration  in  the  other  was  favorable.  It  inspired 
the  courage  of  peoples  and  proved  the  theories  of  enthusiasts. 

Many  revolutions  in  the  course  of  fifty  years  were  failures; 
personal  and  aristocratic  governments  believed  the  only  secu- 
rity against  the  overthrow  of  society  and  the  destruction  of 
civilization  was  in  suppressing  them  with  severity.  Remnants 
of  republicanism  were  preserved  in  France  by  the  Empire 
and  transmitted  to  the  future,  and,  notwithstanding  repression, 
the  spirit  of  democracy  spread  widely  in  Europe,  cheered  and 
sustained  by  the  rising  success  of  American  institutions. 
The  efifect  was  very  marked  on  England  and  led  at  once  to  a 
more  liberal  policy  with  her  colonies.  Her  own  people  had 
fairly  comprehended  the  significance  of  American  independ- 
ence and  its  success,  and  demanded  great  reforms.  Between 
1820   and   1840   tliey  had  been  introduced  on  an  important 


516  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

scale  at  home  and  in  many  of  the  colonies,  which  soon  acquired 
liberties  substantially  as  great  for  their  needs  as  in  the  United 
States,  the  more  general  level  of  conditions  in  a  new  country 
rendering  the  institution  of  parliamentary  governments  in 
them  more  democratic  in  their  practical  workings  than  in 
the  mother  country. 

The  striking  success  of  a  completely  democratic  govern- 
ment in  the  great  Republic,  the  prosperity  of  the  English 
colonies,  and  the  good  effect  of  enlarging  the  base  of  freedom 
in  England  itself,  kept  the  tendencies  toward  democracy  in 
Europe  constant  and  strong,  notwithstanding  the  fears  and 
resistance  of  the  ruling  classes.  Millions  of  the  European 
peasantry  flocked  to  the  land  of  liberty  and  equality  and 
gave  larger  space  to  those  they  left  behind,  which  materially 
improved  the  condition  of  all.  They  became  generally  pros- 
perous and  respectable  freemen  and  citizens,  which  reacted  on 
the  character  and  consideration  of  the  classes  they  had  sprung 
from  across  the  ocean. 

In  a  thousand  ways  the  influence  of  America  helped  to 
quicken  the  regeneration  of  Eui-ope.  When  the  Civil  War 
closed,  with  an  undivided  country  freed  from  an  anomaly  and 
a  breeder  of  mischief,  with  far  better  prospects  than  ever  by 
such  a  demonstration  of  unsuspected  strength  in  democratic 
institutions,  the  reaction  on  Europe  was  profound.  It  helped 
to  plead  the  cause  of  the  people  with  the  intelligent  and  ren- 
dered the  masses  of  the  people  confident  and  decided  in 
demanding  larger  liberties,  and  the  'ultimate  supremacy  of 
democracy  in  all  civilized  lands  was  settled.  Governments 
and  ruling  classes  yielded  more  and  more,  and  progress 
became  constant.  America  has  been  the  school  of  the 
nations. 

In  society,  as  in  the  organic  and  chemical  world,  every- 
thing is  in  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium — that  is  to  say, 
the  dominion  of  change  is  universal.  No  relations  are  abso- 
lutely permanent.     However  slow,  change  is  going  on  cease- 


PKOGBKSS    IS   BY    SYSTEM    AND    LAW.  517 

lessly,  and  this  mutability  is  controlled  by  law  as  certainly 
and  absolutely  as  the  circulation  of  the  blood  or  the  flow  of 
a  river.  The  order  of  the  universe,  with  all  its  processes,  ac- 
tivities and  ultimate  ends,  is  placed  under  the  supervision  of 
this  law.  Numerous  intermediate  stages  lead  to  provisional 
ends,  and  the  temporary  relations  and  tendencies  often  seem 
to  conflict  with  each  other  and  to  oppose  themselves  to  the 
general  sweep  and  grand  aim  of  the  system  of  forces;  but 
this  appearance  arises,  always,  from  an  imperfect  comprehen- 
sion of  relations,  forces  and  their  ends.  The  Intelligence  that 
guides  them  all  never  works  blindly  or  unavailingly. 

European  and  American  history  have  been  the  expression 
of  a  single  phase  of  progress,  or  system  of  social  and  politi- 
cal development,  which  is  to  broaden  and  deepen  until  it  em- 
braces the  destinies  and  promotes  the  welfare  of  the  entire 
human  race.  Under  the  law  of  change,  or  development,  each 
institution,  each  social,  political,  or  intellectual  force  in  Eu- 
rope and  America  has  played  its  useful  part  in  the  progress 
of  the  whole  system  toward  its  flnal  end — the  highest  and 
truest  civilization.  This  high  end  can  only  be  reached  when 
all  the  powers  of  the  individual  and  of  the  whole  body  of 
men  are  developed  to  their  fullest  and  best  action.  This  im- 
plies the  amplest  liberty  for  each  and  all ;  and  therefore  the 
freest  institutions  declare  the  nearest  approach  toward  the 
grand  aim. 

But  all  the  parts  of  a  system  are  intimately  bound  to- 
gether ;  they  change  in  harmony,  and  movement  in  one 
part  assists  movement  in  the  others.  So  America  and 
Europe  interlock.  The  democratic  ideas  and  inhabitants  of 
America  were  of  European  origin.  They  were  transferred 
to  America  to  develop  in  freedom  and  at  ease.  Europe  had 
still  the  same  ideas  and  tendencies,  and  every  sign  of  progress 
here  had  a  corresponding  influence  there.  Liberty  on  the 
two  continents  has  developed  in  unison.  A  conservative, 
orderly,  yet  progressive,  democracy  had  few  hindrances  here; 


518 


THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 


it  had  many  there ;  but  the  force  of  progress  here  had  the 
eifect  of  a  motive  power  there.  Thus,  by  the  law  of  change, 
which  embraces  all  relations  and  impulses,  movement  cor- 
responded on  each  side  of  the  Atlantic.  America  and  Europe 
are  one. 

By  these  relationships  and  this  mutual  influence,  all  the 
mature  experiences  and  thought  of  Europe  benefit  America, 
and  every  phase  of  politics  and  prosperity  in  America  ben- 
efits Europe.  The  great  resources  of  the  Valley,  the  free 
character,  the  intelligence,  the  enterprise,  the  noble  institu- 
tions it  nourishes,  benefit  Europe  and  humanity  as  well  as  its 
own  possessors  aud  the  Republic  at  large. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PROPHETS    OF    EVIL. 

In  looking  over  the  resources  of  the  regions  included  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley  they  have  been  found  deep  and  abund- 
ant; studying  the  progress,  from  decade  to  decade,  in  mak- 
ing them  available  for  the  use  of  man  a  rapid  enlargement 
has  been  noticed,  and  that  enlargement  has  never  been  so 
wonderful  and  massive  as  in  the  last  ten  years;  the  growth 
of  population  has  been  something  marvelous;  the  poverty, 
roughness  and  looseness  of  frontier  life  have  been  seen  to  dis- 
appear with  the  increase  of  numbers  and  the  means  of  trans- 
portation that  made  resources  available  for  all  the  purposes  of 
a  complete  and  costly  civilization.  With  wealth  came  refine- 
ment; temporary  political  and  other  institutions  gave  place 
to  permanent  ones  admirably  adjusted  to  the  requirements  of 
an  intelligent,  moral  and  essentially  upright  people.  General 
progress  seems  to  have  been  nearly  uniform  through  every 
development  of  life  in  the  great  Valley  as  in  other  parts  of 
the  country. 

But  this  is  following  rapidly  down  the  stream  of  events  and 
observing  results  rather  than  processes.  All  this  has  not  been 
gained  without  toil  and  sacrifices,  without  storms  and  black 
clouds,  often  threatening  disaster.  Human  nature  is  the  same 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  as  elsewhere;  it  has  not  always  turned 
its  best  side  to  the  observer,  nor  always  been  in  its  best 
mood.  Freedom  often  seemed  to  encourage  license,  and  those 
who  were  prone  to  dwell  on  the  dark  side  of  life  have  found 
much  to  beget  gloom  and  dismal  forebodings.  Every  gen- 
eration has  had  its  share  of  the  trials  of  life  and  its  Prophets 
of  Evil.  We  can  smile  at  their  prophecies  now  and  see  how 
false  they  were ;  but  there  were  real  and  threatening  evils  in 

519 


520  THE   MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

the  view  of  those  who  did  not  comprehend  tlie  healthy  con- 
structive vigor  that  dwelt  in  a  new  society  filled  with  the  sap 
of  a  young  life.  Freedom  lets  loose  the  evil  as  well  as  the 
good,  and  the  young  communities  suffered  the  evils  as  well  as 
reaped  the  fruits  of  liberty.  A  country  in  its  youth  "  sows 
its  wild  oats  "  like  any  other  youth,  and  "  learns  wisdom  by 
the  things  it  suffers."  The  mistake  of  the  prophets  was  that 
they  took  the  real  evils  for  permanent  characteristics,  instead 
of  passing  phases,  of  the  process  of  development. 

The  more  dreadful  forebodings  as  to  the  outcome  of  these 
institutions  were  felt  in  the  first  years  of  the  century,  while  the 
experiment  was  yet  immature.  The  bitterness  of  parties  was 
never  so  great.  The  French  Revolution  had  experienced  an 
epoch  of  "  white  terror"  and  horrible  excesses;  then  France 
had  passed  into  the  hands  of  an  absolute  master.  Jefferson 
and  his  party  were  understood  to  sympathize  with  P^rench 
ideas,  and  the  opposite  party  saw  every  reason  to  fear  and 
dread  their  reign  ;  while  the  democratic  party  feared  the 
establishment  of  a  despotism  by  the  Federalists,  who  thouglit 
a  strong  central  government  necessary.  Many  ex])ected  the 
Constitution  to  perish  under  popular  excesses  or  by  the  stern 
hand  of  despotism.  We  know  Americans  better  by  this  time, 
but  there  seemed  real  danger  of  unhapjjy  precedents  being 
established  in  the  days  of  inexperience. 

The  pioneers  of  the  West  had  been  mostly  uncultured  men 
of  the  backwoods;  they  lived  a  rude  life  and  had  a  pitiless 
foe  to  fight  ivway  from  their  cabins  and  families.  There  was 
danger  that  they  would  become  barbarous,  revengeful  and 
bloodthirsty;  that,  having  received  little  aid  from  the  States 
while  struggling  against  and  conquering  their  great  difficul- 
ties, they  would  yield  to  the  temptations  which  so  many  evil 
anibitinjis  were  spreading  before  them,  and  join  the  l''reiicli,  or 
theEnglish,  or  the  Sjnmish,  or  follow  the  proiu]itiiii;s  of  Aaron 
Burr  and  others,  and  undertake  a  dangerous  and  stormy  inde- 
pendence.    There  were  men  in  abundance  on  the  borders  who 


THREATENED    DANGERS    QDIETLV    DISAPPEAK.  521 

were  iipposed  capable  of  any  iiifainyand  willing  to  serve  any 
chief  tor  booty  and  a  lawless  life.  Yet,  how  few  were  really 
ready  to  listen  let  the  ntter  failure  of  Burr's  schemes  declare. 

From  this  time  (1807)  to  1830,  Western  and  Southwestern 
life  was  nnu/h  studied  and  prophesied  about.  The  life  was 
rude  and  wanting,  fur  the  time,  in  many  of  the  essentials  of  a 
high  civilization.  The  young  grew  up  in  ignorance;  over- 
flowing with  boisterous  vigor  they  seemed  to  promise  an  after- 
life of  excesses  dangerous  to  social  order  and  fatal  to  well- 
regulated  liberty.  The  institutions  of  the  Valley  would  fall 
into  their  hands,  the  responsibility  of  maintaining  them  in 
strength  and  purity  seemed  too  great  for  them.  It  was 
thought  a  rock  over  which  the  Republic  was  sure  to  stumble 
to  her  downfall;  yet,  what  generation  has  moi"e  honorably 
or  faithfully  done  its  work  than  that  which  rnled  from  1830 
to  1850? 

There  were  dangers  in  other  directions.  If  their  uncul- 
tured instincts  were  true  to  liberty  and  the  principles  of  the 
fathers,  they  had  the  details  of  statesmanship  to  conduct.  The 
leicislative  halls  were  filled  with  bold  but  unlearned  vounj' 
lawyers,  farmers  and  men  "who  had  no  experience  in  finance 
and  political  economy.  How  could  they  manage  these  grave 
subjects  without  fatal  injury  to  public  and  private  intei-ests? 
Indeed,  many  sad  mistakes  actually  occurred  ;  the  wildest 
theories  of  banking  and  general  fitiauce  sometimes  carried 
them  away,  and  the  West  was  flooded  with  worthless  money. 
Many  private  fortunes  were  ingulfed,  distress  was  general, 
and  serious  burdens  were  entailed  on  the  public  for  many 
years.  What  but  ruin  could  come  of  ignorant  nishi\ess  raised 
to  such  danger<jiis  eminence?  Yet  general  progress  pursued 
her  trantpiil  vvay,  the  errors  were  correcte<l  by  the  ignorant 
generation  that  had  itself  made  them  and  all  trace  of  their  ill 
efiFects  soon  disappeared. 

The  great  freedom  allowed  to  individual  enterprise  mid 
aspiration  might  give  full  play  to  passion,  to  intrigue  and 


522  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEV. 

corruption  where  an  unlearned  and  ignorant  people  were  the 
ultimate  sovereigns — the  depositaries  of  power.  What  dangers 
were  not  to  be  feared  from  the  intrigues,  the  misrepresenta- 
tions of  dishonest  demagogues?  It  was  sadly  feared  that  all 
that  was  just  and  truthful  would  disappear  in  a  wholesale  scram- 
ble after  power  and  place;  that  the  habit  of  dishonesty  and 
self-seeking  would  be  the  ruin  of  public  affairs.  No  more 
eager,  wily,  successful  wire-pullers  and  underhanded  diplomat- 
ists have  been  known  in  any  public  life  than  have  been  some- 
times found  among  this  shrewd,  ingenious  race.  What  better 
opportunities  did  crafty  men  ever  enjoy  of  "  engineering " 
themselves  into  a  fortune  than  were  offered  by  the  confusion 
and  sudden  wholesale  spread  of  settlement  over  the  West 
from  1820  to  1850?  How  many  became  immensely  wealthy 
by  planning  and  managing,  by  false  representations  and  under- 
hand dealing?  There  seemed  the  most  imminent  danger  that 
the  want  of  strict  supervision,  of  a  pure  and  higli-toned  pub- 
lic sentiment,  would  allow  the  virus  of  dishonesty  to  spread 
through  society  and  atHict  it  with  a  fatal  disease. 

How  should  a  generation  brought  up  in  ignorance  appreci- 
ate the  value  of  education,  and,  where  population  increased 
with  such  rapidity,  how  could  they  be  expected  to  make  the 
provision  for  the  intelligence  of  the  future  that  would  save  a 
society  rapidly  increasing  in  power  from  going  to  ruin?  These 
and  a  thousand  other  dangers  seemed  to  portend  certain  destruc- 
tion to  morality,  justice  and  order  in  the  near  future.  There 
have  not  been  wanting  multitudes  of  prophets  to  point  out  all 
these  dansrers.  To  them  the  failure  of  democratic  libertv  was 
proved.  They  could  see  few  redeeming  features  in  the  situa- 
tion; only  a  rapid  degeneracy  of  an  originally  staunch  and 
upright  race.  It  has  usually  been  the  party  out  of  power  who 
have  pointed  out  all  these  ruinous  tendencies.  They  could 
clearly  see  what  was  amiss  for  they  could  reaj)  no  benefits 
from  wrong  doing,  and  many  from  getting  it  believed  that 
their  opponents  were  the  authors  of  the  evil.     With  the  heat 


EXPERIENCE    TEACHES    AMERICANS    EFFECTUALLY.  523 

and  earnestness  characteristic  of  Americans  they  often  pushed 
their  argument  to  extremes  and  increased  an  evil  they  were 
supposed  to  be  laboring  to  cure. 

Slavery  was  a  contradiction  to  the  peculiar  American  idea, 
a  cause  of  weakness  in  numerous  ways,  and  a  constant  menace 
to  the  stability  of  the  Union.  Yet,  slavery  has  long  been 
dead;  the  disappearance  of  about  a  fourth  part  of  the  great 
public  debt  produced  by  the  Civil  War  and  the  existence 
of  a  better  currency  than  was  ever  had  in  earlier  times  have 
proved  that  the  people  are  not  wanting  in  financial  skill  or 
honesty.  The  generally  accurate  and  successful  working  of 
the  vast  and  complicated  machinery  required  for  the  conduct 
of  the  public  business  of  a  most  active  and  wealthy  nation  of 
Dearly  fifty  million  souls  indicates  that  dishonesty  has  not 
triumphed.  The  evils  were  transient,  at  least  in  their  virulent 
form;  they  were  quite  inevitable;  and  it  would  have  been  of 
all  things  the  most  undesirable  that  the  natural  freedom,  from 
which  they  were  inseparable  in  a  new  country,  should  have 
heen  disturbed  by  forces  from  without  really  strong  enough 
to  suppress  them.  The  special  value  of  American  democracy, 
of  the  free  and  popular  form  of  its  republican  institutions, 
was  in  the  unrestrained  growth  of  aJl  the  people  under  the 
discipline  of  an  independent  life.  To  learn  by  experience  is 
to  learn  thoroughly;  defeats  as  well  as  triumphs  teach.  The 
experience  of  a  life  which  must  rule  itself,  correct  its  own 
errors  and  repair  its  defeats  from  its  own  resources,  is  the 
best  possible  education.  It  develops  the  character  from  its 
roots  to  its  topmost  bough;  it  brings  out  all  the  manliness 
and  genuine  worth  that  is  in  the  people. 

The  evils  that  have  been  prophesied  about  as  certain  signs 
of  approaching  ruin  by  grave  historians  and  intelligent 
travelers  from  Europe,  that  have  produced  foreboding  hope- 
lessness in  a  small  minority  of  thoughtful,  but  not  very 
penetrating,  American  patriots,  and  that  have  always  formed 
the  staple  of  party  oratory  and  invective,  have  gradually  but 


624  THE    MISSISSIl'PI    VALLEY. 

surely  disappeared  in  the  process  of  growth  and  under  tlie 
teacliing,  often  severe,  of  experience.  Having  to  hear  Loth 
sides  of  a  question  the  people  were  the  judges  and,  with 
many  mistakes,  learned  how  to  judge  correctly  in  the  end. 
The  self-seeking  and  dishonest  came  to  be  less  and  less  se- 
lected for  high  positions,  for  the  people  were  free  to  set  thein 
aside  as  soon  as  they  were  fairly  convicted  of  sin.  Wire- 
pulling diplomacy  has  learned  to  consult  public  opinion 
and  be  guided  by  it.  It  no  longer  hopes  to  control  and  make 
public  opinion.  Parties  oifset  each  other  and  neutralize  each 
other's  heat  and  exaggeration;  business  interests  learn  not  to 
endanger  success  by  over-selfishness,  but  to  seek  it  in  a 
general  harmony  with  recognized  principles  ;  truth  and 
justice  are  found  to  pay  best  in  the  long  run,  in  every  walk 
of  life.  American  life  meets  with  no  evils  that  are  irreme- 
diable, because  there  is  no  invincible  power  behind  which 
wrong  can  shelter  itself. 

Public  policy  and  public  men  pass  periodically  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  people  for  approval  or  condemnation  ;  this 
produces  profound  respect  for  them  by  public  servants, 
and  respect  for  themselves  among  the  pe(jple.  Among  all 
possible  modes  of  elevating  a  great  community  this  is 
incomparably  the  most  effective  ;  therefore,  the  early  faults 
of  ignorance,  of  boastfulness,  of  hastening  into  action  be- 
fore maturity  of  consideration  has  been  given  to  a  subject, 
have  become  more  and  more  rare.  The  people  are  found 
capable  of  a  slow,  considerate,  but  final,  judgment  froni  which 
nothing  can  move  it  ;  of  a  fixed  and  permanent  resolution 
which  they  were  supposed  never  to  show  till  revealed  in  a 
century's  history  of  the  Republic.  They  used  to  be  judged 
by  republics  of  the  past  in  which  fickleness  and  various  grow- 
ing vices  were  the  rule.  But  no  republic  that  ever  existed, 
of  any  size,  had  any  real  claim  to  the  name  beside  that  of  the 
United  States.  In  them  the  few  were  always  the  masters  of 
the  many;  the   base  of  public  jiower  was    narrow    and    the 


HOW  THE  PROPHECIES  PROVED  TO  BE  FAXSK.      525 

masses  were  oppressed  as  in  governments  with  a  less  honor- 
able or  popular  name.  Only  in  America  did  power  really 
descend  to  the  lowest  strata  of  society  and  a  real  political 
equality  become  universal. 

Therefore,  the  prophecies  of  the  prophets  proved  false ; 
there  was  no  real  parallel  in  the  cases  on  which  their  reason- 
ing was  based;  and  they  left  out  of  view  the  regenerating 
forces  that  lay  beneath  the  surface.  Public  opinion  is  found 
to  be,  in  the  long  run,  as  much  moi'e  reliable  than  class  or 
private  opinion  as  its  base  is  wider;  and  all  wise  men  have 
learned  from  American  history  to  respect  it  accordingly. 

Europe  has  learned  the  same  lesson  from  its  own  improved 
experiences  and  none  of  its  governments  are  so  strong  as  those 
where  the  base  of  the  political  fabric  is  broadest ;  where  all 
classes  may  speak,  are  listened  to,  and  their  judgment  accepted 
as  parts  of  public  opinion.  A  government  founded  on  the 
manhood  of  all  its  people  has  the  utmost  strength  of  which 
a  government  is  susceptible,  embraces  all  the  recuperative 
and  progressive  energies  which  lie  in  the  possibilities  of  man 
himself.  Such  a  government  is  indestructible  because  man 
has  inexhaustible  capacities  of  growth.  There  is  no  limit  to 
his  jjossible  attainments,  with  time  and  opportunity  to  grow 
freely.  Thei-efore,  all  prophets  of  ruin  are  false  prophets. 
Uncounted  and  great  evils  have  existed  and  still  exist;  but 
they  are  essentially  limitations,  vices  of  the  time,  vices  of 
ignorance,  of  shortsightedness  and  mistake  which,  in  a  society 
free  to  expand  and  to  learn,  must  necessarily  fall  away  and 
disappear. 

These  false  prophets  usually  urge  a  system  of  immediate 
action  and  strenuous  eiTort  by  a  limited  class  whose  energies, 
rightly  directed  and  with  a  given  force  and  persistence,  are 
to  save  society.  It  is,  however,  a  false  doctrine,  for  if  .society 
does  n(jt  possess  the  power  of  saving  itself,  if  the  regenerating 
influence  does  not  exist  in  itself,  no  outside  power  can  save  it. 
Its  own  vitality  is  the  only  force  equal  to  the  work.     Nor  can 


526  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAIXEY. 

its  forces  be  persuaded  to  act  out  of  season.  They  decline  to 
be  hurried  or  controlled.  In  due  time  any  designated  point 
of  power  and  excellence  can  be  reached,  and  will  be  reached, 
by  the  simple  and  natural  process  of  development  from 
within.  The  people  so  tilled  with  alarm  and  distress  vex 
themselves  and  others  in  vain,  for  when  the  right  point  <jf 
growth  has  come  the  desired  reformation  occurs  spontane- 
ously. They  may  seriously  disturb  that  process  and  defer  it, 
if  they  are  successful  in  gaining  converts  to  their  views,  but 
they  can  only  help  it  by  a  quiet  attention  to  their  own  up- 
rightness and  conforming  their  own  lives  to  the  highest  truth 
they  see. 

Many  countries  in  Europe  secure  an  enforced  regularity 
and  appearance  of  excellence  that  is  not  found,  as  yet,  in  the 
United  States.  A  degree  of  apparent  confusion  and  real 
disorder  may  exist,  in  various  forms,  that  compare  unfavora- 
bly with  the  exactness  obtained  under  a  strong  centralized 
government;  but  the  evil  which  exists  because  its  time  for 
being  thrown  olf  by  growth  has  not  come  is  preferable,  in 
general,  to  its  suppression  by  an  arbitrary  force  that  does  not 
spring  naturally  from  the  society  affected. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


THE    AMERICA    OF   THE    FTTTtJEE. 


In  its  most  essential  features  American  history  has  been  a 
record  of  successes.  Its  struggle  has  been  constantly  embar- 
rassed by  a  rapid  growth  that  added  new  elements  to  be 
moulded  and  harmonized  before  the  old  elements  had  been  fully 
mastered;  but  with  the  heavier  task  came  increasing  strength. 
American  progress  has  been  through  difficulties;  but  difficul- 
ties well  borne  are  lessons  well  learned;  and  the  country  has 
never  been  so  patient,  so  wise,  so  strong  and  united  as  at  the 
close  of  its  first  hundred  years  of  successful  combat  with 
obstacles.     Its  future  is  full  of  promise. 

Tiie  only  afflictions  the  Western  Continent  had  suftered 
that  were  almost  purely  evil,  and  that  in  a  high  degree,  had 
risen  from  the  etforts  of  European  governments  to  establish 
their  own  arbitrary,  restrictive  and  selfish  systems  of  state 
and  class  policy  in  their  colonies.  Under  those  systems, 
wherever  established,  the  virgin  wealth  that  could  be  imme- 
diately realized  was  wasted,  and  the  fountains  of  prosperity 
flowed  but  languidly  or  were  dried  up  altogether;  the  natives 
suffered  immense  and  cruel  injustice,  revolting  to  humanity; 
and  the  European  settlers  under  such  forms  of  government 
lost  the  progressive  tendencies  which  their  several  nationali- 
ties still  showed  at  home  and  became  degenerate.  Diiring 
the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  however,  most  of 
these  European  colonies,  inspired  by  the  example  of  the 
United  States,  declared  their  independence  and  asked  its 
recognition  as  self-governing  republics.  Soon  after  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  had  gone  into  successful 
operation  the  republican  government  was  solicited  to  inter- 
fere in  favor  of  freedom  in  Europe.     This  it  refused  to  do, 

527 


528  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VAI.LKY. 

and  established  the  precedent  of  non-interference,  as  a  govern- 
ment, with  the  quarrels  and  contests  of  others.  It  would 
he  at  peace  with  all  the  world  so  long  as  its  interests  and 
dignity  were  not  attacked.  On  the  other  hand,  it  offered  a 
refuge  to  all  who  chose  to  come  to  it,  and  citizenship  on  the 
most  reasonable  terms. 

Its  war  with  England,  closing  in  1815,  had  been  chiefly 
caused  by  its  determination  to  protect  these  adopted  citizens 
when  claimed  by  the  governments  to  which  they  formerly 
owed  allegiance,  and  it  now  determined  that,  while  it  adhered 
to  its  policy  of  non-intervention  with  the  internal  aftairs  of 
Europe,  the  various  governments  on  that  side  the  Atlantic 
should  not  extend  their  possessions  in  America.  The  Spanish- 
American  republics  wei-e  recognized  and  America  was  hence- 
forth devoted  to  freedom. 

This  principle  of  American  policy  was  distinctly  set  forth 
by  President  Monroe,  in  1822,  and  received  the  popular  name 
of  "  the  Monroe  Doctrine."  The  United  States  Congress 
virtually  ratified  it  by  the  act  of  recognizing  the  South 
American  republics  as,  by  right,  free  from  European  control. 

This  was  the  only  overt  act  of  defiance  of  the  absolutism 
and  ambition  of  foreign  nations;  to  a  certain  extent  it  placed 
itself  as  a  defender  in  front  of  the  new  republics  and  reserved 
the  New  World  to  Americans,  or,  at  least,  to  such  institutions 
as  actual  residents  in  it  should  determine  to  establish.  It  was 
a  proud  position  to  take,  for  it  proclaimed  itself  the  leader  and 
champion  of  a  third  part  of  the  earth.  The  fruit  of  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine,  supported  as  it  was  by  the  development  and 
growth  in  power  of  the  Great  Republic,  was  to  encourage 
the  freedom  of  American  nations,  to  quicken  the  spread 
of  its  own  principles  from  the  Polar  Sea  to  Cape  Horn,  and  to 
maintain  the  tendency  of  all  the  dawning  nationalities  toward 
democracy.  The  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  rapid  movement 
given  to  industrial  activities  by  its  vast  railroad  system  made 
it  the  center  of  influences  much  more  powerful  in  acquiring 


r 


VALUABLE    FRUITS    OF    THE    ''  MONROE    DOCTRINE."  529 

real  eminence  as  a  leader  in  tlie  two  Americas  than  any  pos- 
sible conquests  by  war  or  skill  in  diplomacy. 

Its  influence  on  England  was  probably  considerable,  leading 
her  to  treat  her  remaining  American  colonies  with  wise  liber- 
ality, and  they  soon  obtained  all  the  real  liberties  possessed  in 
the  United  States.  The  difficulty  of  constructing,  and  espe- 
cially of  maintaining,  true  republics  in  the  Spanish  American 
States  was  nearly  as  great  as  it  could  be.  They  had  not  the 
original  base  of  character  on  which  tlie  discipline  of  poverty 
and  labor  reacted  so  happily  in  the  thirteen  English  colonies 
and  in  tlie  Valley  of  the  Mississippi;  they  had  no  previous 
gradual  training  in  self-government;  the  rule  must  long  be 
that  of  a  comparatively  small  class  of  whites  of  European 
descent.  But  for  the  success  and  example  of  the  United 
States  they  would  probabl}^  have  failed.  It  did  not  interfere 
with  them  directly,  but  it  had  itself  a  success  so  shining  that 
it  encouraged  them  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  a  virtual 
protection  against  European  intrigues  and  attacks.  Under 
the  shadow  of  the  Great  Republic  their  democratic  institu- 
tions maintained  themselves,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
innumerable  private  ambitions  breaking  out  in  revolutionary 
attempts.  A  true  conception  of  republican  liberty  gradually 
spread  among  the  people  and  ever  larger  numbers  became 
enlightened  and  capable  of  working  wisely  for  the  common 
good.  Thus  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  fruitful  of  good  in 
the  two  Americas. 

From  this  historical  growth  of  republicanism,  and  from  the 
impulse  toward  prosperity  given  by  the  wide-reaching  influ- 
ence of  its  industries  and  great  development,  the  country 
seated  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  to  a  certain  degree,  unified 
the  growth  and  interests  of  both  North  and  South  America. 
This  was  in  a  remote  and  preliminary  way  until  the  lower 
Valley  was  relieved  of  its  embarrassing  labor  system.  This 
feature  was  strengthened  materially, after  that  event,hy  increas- 
ing moral  influence,  by  greater  industrial  influence,  and  by 
34 


630  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

multiplied  commercial  relations;  but  its  full  significance  is  to 
Le  developed  in  the  future.  Harmony  of  institutions,  variety 
of  products  and  boundless  natural  resources  in  almost  every 
part  of  both  North  and  South  America  will  make  their  future 
relations  extremely  valuable.  The  capital  and  enterprise  of 
the  prosperous  Re])ublic  of  the  North  will  send  the  pulses  of 
her  own  energy,  in  constantly  more  powerful  waves,  through 
the  whole  length  of  her  own  continent.  The  same  thrift  and 
wisely  ordered  activity  will  be  constantly  encouraged.  The 
Gulf  of  Mexico  will  begin,  by  and  by,  to  assume  its  proper 
position  as  the  highway  of  the  most  active  commerce,  and  lead 
to  the  closest  relations  of  interest. 

But  the  Valley  is  much  more  the  uniting  bond  and  the  rul- 
ing center  of  North  America.  While  the  work  of  general 
settlement  within  it  and  the  United  States  at  large  continues, 
and  until  development  has  tolerably  filled  all  the  channels  of 
trade,  the  relations  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  in  North  America  may  be  comparatively  few.  The  rich 
soil  and  many  advantages  of  the  Valley  and  of  the  mines  and 
valleys  of  the  Pacific  Slope  and  Rocky  Mountains  now  draw 
a  large  proportion  of  settlers  because  the  immediate  future  is 
better  assured  by  the  growing  wealth  and  activity  about 
them;  but  later  all  the  available  parts  of  British  America 
■will  be  tilled.  The  extension  of  the  Valley  in  a  continental 
trough  northward  and  the  common  interests  that  must  mul 
tiply  on  each  side  of  the  lakes  will  unite  the  two  peoples  in  a 
very  close  industrial  union.  It  will  not  be  essential  that  they 
should  merge  together  in  a  political  union.  They  will  each 
be  enlightened  enough  to  harmonize  their  common  interests 
and  permit  natural  relations  a  suitable  play  on  the  basis  of 
mutual  political  independence  if  that  should  be  the  prefer- 
ence of  the  people  of  either. 

British  Columbia  and  tlie  States  of  the  Pacific  coast  will 
sustain  similar  close  relations.  The  most  of  Mexico  is  a 
continuation  of  the   high  broken  plateau   which   is   so  wide 


COMMON    INTERESTS    WILL    HAEMOXIZE    ACTION.  531 

and  rich  in  the  United  States,  and  is,  in  Mexico,  endowed  with 
more  or  less  ot"  the  resources  of  the  tropics.  Tlie  extreme  activ- 
ities and  large  population  that  will  soon  cover  the  Rocky 
Mountain  region  in  the  United  States  will  communicate  its 
character  to  Mexico  and  overflow  into  it,  as  the  activities  of 
the  Valley  will  flow  into,  influence  and  develop  Central 
America.  The  restless  habits  uf  its  people,  the  growing 
wealth  and  centralizing  influence  of  the  Valley  will  consoli- 
date North  America  by  making  it  the  focus  and  heart  of  the 
whole.  The  political  relations  must  depend  largely  on  those 
of  interest  but  may  not  necessarily  require  consolidation  by 
annexing  these  outlying  portions. 

For  the  time  has  come,  or  is  about  to  dawn,  when  reason 
and  iftterest  will  unite  men  as  accidental  circumstances 
have  heretofore  separated  them.  Nations  have  thought 
more  of  the  narrow  relations  and  bonds  which  have  origi- 
nated common  languages  and  united  them  under  separate 
governments  than  of  the  wider  one  of  a  common  human- 
ity ;  but  these  restricted  views  will  disappear  as  relations 
become  universal  and  interests  draw  them  all  closer  together. 
The  prices  of  produce  and  merchandize  in  London  and  New 
York  are  of  the  deepest  interest  to  a  large  part  of  tlie  world, 
for  the  income  and  general  welfare  of  large  classes  are  deeply 
affected  by  each  of  them  somewhere.  This  community  of 
interest  and  mutual  interlocking  of  business,  on  a  range  as 
wide  as  the  globe,  has  but  lately  assumed  large  proportions; 
but  it  will  rapidly  grow.  This  intimate  interdependence  is 
still  more  important  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States 
and  among  the  difierent  sections  of  the  country  than  any 
where  else;  soon  it  will  be  the  most  important  point  that 
enters  into  the  consideration  of  general  business  and  will  con- 
tinually render  the  different  countries  of  America  of  the 
utmost  interest  to  each  other. 

No  point  will  become  so  important  as  that  of  harmonizing 
interests.     Individual  prospt^rity  will  depend  more  and  more 


532  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEV. 

on  discovering  the  true  laws  of  business  and  allowing  them 
the  freest  operation.  The  rule  of  reason  and  truth  will  be 
more  and  more  enforced  by  the  inexorable  demands  of  inter- 
est. It  has  been  seen  that  the  great  feature  of  Valley  his- 
tory has  been  the  freedom  with  which  all  activity  has  been 
organized.  If  any  restriction  has  been  characteristic  of  later 
times  it  was  not  arbitrary,  or  enforced  from  without,  but 
sprang  up  from  within.  If  organizations  became  strong 
enough  and  were  shortsighted  enough  to  trench  unduly  on 
other  interests  there  was  free  play  for  resistance  by  counter 
organization,  or  united  action  by  the  interests  injured.  This 
is  the  rule  of  reason  and  interest  and,  on  the  whole,  proceeds 
quietly  and  naturally  to  correct  evils.  It  is  not  easily  to  be 
imagined  that  this  quiet  and  satisfactory  way  of  managing 
great  interests  can  be  abandoned  for  a  confused,  arbitrary,  or 
partial  system  of  control. 

Wisdom  is  necessarily  gained  by  experience,  and  Anglo- 
Americans  in  the  Valley  and  the  country  have  proved  them- 
selves reasonable  above  all  men,  when  it  was  much  more 
diiBcult  to  see  what  was  best  than  now,  or  than  it  can  be  in 
the  future.  It  is  not  possible  to  suppose  that  they  have 
reached  the  limit  of  good  sense,  and  therefore  the  future  will 
gain  as  in  the  past. 

Intelligence  has  steadily  developed,  gained  in  clearness  and 
comprehensiveness  and  taken  the  thorough  and  systematic 
form  of  science.  The  special  business  of  science  is  to  study 
all  the  details  of  a  subject,  or  class  of  subjects,  with  the 
closest  scrutiny  till  the  laws  involved  are  clearly  seen  and  the 
action  required  to  satisfy  them  has  been  discovered.  Can 
society,  that  has  been  so  wise  in  comparative  ignorance, 
cease  to  be  so  when  knowledge  becomes  comprehensive  and 
well  detined?  Every  impulse  in  man  forbids  his  knowingly 
and  deliberately  acting  against  his  own  interests  ;  and  the 
decided  credit  which  accurate  science  has  gained  is  sure 
to  increase  as  it  becomes  more  closely  associated  with  the 
daily  business  of  life. 


PROGRESS   WILL    BE   MORE    RAPID    AND    STRIKING.  533 

The  sum  of  intelligence  was  never  so  great  as  now  ;  no 
generation  has  ever  received  the  intellectual  training  that  is 
being  given  the  generation  now  obtaining  its  preliminary 
education.  They  will  come  on  the  stage  to  take  up  the  active 
work  of  life  many  degrees  higher  in  mental  fitness  than  their 
fathers.  It  can  not  be  supposed  that  they  will  gain  less  in 
proportion  from  the  practical  education  they  will  add  to 
mental  training,  to  their  mastery  of  principles  and  accumu- 
lation of  facts.  They  will  take  hold  of  the  burdens  and  solve 
the  problems  of  their  time  with  a  skill  and  success  corres- 
ponding to  their  greater  advantages;  still  larger  advantages 
will  be  given  to  the  generation  that  follows  them  as  science 
discovers  the  truth  more  and  more  fully,  and  as  better 
educational  systems  are  employed.  The  ratio  of  improve- 
ment will,  then,  constantly  increase  according  to  the  law  of 
progress. 

The  constant  progress  of  the  past  is  a  satisfactory  security 
that,  with  the  conditions  improved,  the  progress  will  be  more 
comprehensive  and  rapid.  The  situation  in  all  departments 
of  life  at  the  present  shows  immense  improvement  when 
compared  with  any  period  in  the  past.  Institutions  have 
grown  more  secure;  they  were  never  so  carefully  organized 
and  in  so  good  working  order  as  now;  their  results  must 
be  correspondingly  more  effective. 

Since  1860  many  and  great  dangers  have  threatened  the 
existence  and  steady  progress  that  had  then  become  so  appar- 
ently secure.  The  tranquility  of  society  and  the  regular 
course  of  business  were  broken  in  upon  by  a  civil  conflict  as 
great  and  destructive  as  the  resources  of  the  country  and  the 
resolute  will  and  energetic  courage  of  the  Anglo-American 
race  could  make  it.  The  difl'erence  in  resources  alone  could 
and  did  determine  the  result.  The  majority  ruled  according 
to  the  democratic  principle,  even  through  war;  but  the  great 
changes  following  the  war  were  as  distasteful  to  the  over- 
powered side  as  they  well  could  be.     They   were   endured 


53-i  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEr. 

however,  in  a  spirit  and  manner  honorable  to  the  race,  at  first 
in  proud  and  haughty  silence,  and  afterward  with  such  efibrts 
to  retrieve  their  situation  as  prudence  and  their  views  of 
what  was  best  and  right  permitted.  That  there  should  have 
been  no  disorders,  no  hasty,  vengeful  action,  would  have  argued 
that  there  were  no  inconsiderate  and  shortsighted  individuals 
or  communities.  It  would  have  been  wholly  unnatural  had 
such  a  crisis  been  passed  with  a  display  of  absolute  wisdom 
in  all  the  people.  Yet.  the  general  conduct  of  the  Southern 
people  was  wise,  dignified  and  moderate.  The  situation  was 
accepted  without  servility,  but  without  resistance,  which 
could  only  make  it  worse,  and,  when  liberty  of  action  was 
recovered,  their  moderation  must  have  seemed  conspicuous  to 
an  impartial  observer.  Their  deference  to  changes  which 
they  had  disapproved  and  resisted,  which  could  no  longer 
be  successfully  opposed,  was  marked. 

The  Southern  people  joined  in  the  effort  to  restore  har- 
mony and  make  the  best  of  an  unhappy  situation.  When, 
later,  a  political  deadlock,  for  which  each  party  blamed  the 
other  and  which  involved  the  passions  and  violence  springing 
from  the  war,  seemed  to  endanger  the  peace  of  the  country  by 
rendering  a  satisfactory  legal  decision  impossible,  a  compro- 
mise cut  the  Gordian  knot.  In  this  critical  situation  the 
South  was  not  behind  the  North  in  moderation. 

That  crises  so  momentous  were  passed  with  so  much  equa- 
nimity ;  that  prosperity  and  progress  did  not  cease  in  such  a 
furious  conflict  of  passions,  prejudices  and  interests,  are  the 
most  remarkable  and  significant  facts  of  American  history. 
They  show  that  American  character  has  no  superior.  No  possi- 
ble future  complication  can  be  unmanageable  where  there  is  so 
much  self-control  and  prudent  forbearance.  In  the  meantime 
the  standard  of  public  morality  is  being  raised;  the  censor- 
ship of  the  public  press  and  of  legislative  bodies  is  unsparing 
as  unsleeping.  The  success  and  honorable  estimation  of  both 
depend  on  the  efficiency  with  which  they  serve  public  interests. 


SECURITIES    FOB    IMPKOVEMENT    IN    THE    FUTURE.  535 

Educational  systems  are  constantly  more  extended  and 
every  possible  improvement  is  sought  with  anxious  care. 
"  Scientific  accuracy  "  and  thoroughness  are  being  introduced 
more  and  more,  into  every  branch  of  public,  corporate  and 
private  business.  The  standard  of  requirement  for  both 
character  and  knowledge  is  being  constantly  raised.  All 
the  conditions  of  the  time,  all  its  peculiarities  and  relations, 
tend  to  impart  an  ever-increasing  thoroughness  of  practical 
discipline,  a  more  accurate  and  comprehensive  knowledge,  to 
the  masses  of  the  people.  The  securities  of  the  past  and 
present  for  the  future  seem  almost  as  valuable,  as  numerous 
and  as  reliable  as  could  be  desired. 

It  is  quite  certain  that,  with  things  as  they  are.  and  with 
the  wisdom  and  good  sense,  that  have  been  so  conspicuous  in 
the  past,  to  guide  events,  progress  and  prosperity  must 
be  still  more  marked  in  the  future.  Mistakes  and  failures 
have  taught  the  people  where  danger  lies;  by  successes  they 
have  learned  where  safety  is  to  be  found. 

One  of  the  important  securities  for  upright  statesmanship 
in  England  is  its  peerage.  The  social  distinction  and  hered- 
itary wealth  of  its  aristocracy  raise  them  above  vulgar  am- 
bitions. They  have  much  to  lose  and  little  to  gain  by  venality 
and  a  selfish  exercise  of  power,  and  their  intelligence  and 
purity  secure  to  them  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  nation. 
It  was  to  be  seen  if  a  thorough  democracy,  a  radical  republi- 
can people  could  obtain  a  class  of  servants  as  safe  and  upright 
without  paying  so  high  a  price  for  them.  It  may  be  safely 
asserted  that  the  history  of  the  hundred  years  of  American 
public  life  is  honorable  and  reassuring.  Only  invidious  party 
criticism  could  maintain  the  contrary. 

Character  and  conduct  are  examined  with  merciless  severity, 
and  the  unexplained  shadow  of  blameworthiness  is  fatal  to 
ambition.  What  the  individual  can  not  do  in  this  examina- 
tion is  done  by  the  press  and  by  party  criticism.  So  exacting 
has  public  opinion  become  that  it  may  be  considered  among 


536  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

future  certainties  that  public  life  must  be  more  and  more 
pure  and  high  toned,  more  and  more  clearsighted  and  just 
in  action. 

Business  must  also  share  in  this  improving  moral  tone. 
The  more  massive  it  grows,  the  wider  its  relations,  the  more 
accurate  must  be  its  balance.  Vast  interests  depend  on 
honesty  and  careful  adjustments,  and  universal  intelligence 
affords  ever  less  openings  to  those  designing  ill.  The  increas- 
ing enlightenment  and  liberality  in  the  government  and 
among  the  people  at  large  raise  the  standard  of  moralit}'  and 
respectability  in  common  life  and  make  the  censorship  of 
public  opinion  ever  more  eifective.  Success  will  become  con- 
stantly more  difficult  for  the  wrong  doer. 

With  these  social  and  political  adjustments,  general  pros- 
perity is  certain  to  proceed  with  a  freedom  from  checks  and 
a  rapidly  widening  and  deepening  volume  that  have  never 
before  been  known.  Skill  and  experience  have  been  joined 
with  a  vast  capital  and  facilities  for  using  them  with  an  effect 
that  no  generation  but  this  has  ever  possessed.  All  tiiese 
will  contiime  to  accumulate  more  rapidly  hereafter.  A  long 
financial  depression  closes  with  a  revisal  of  methods,  a  read- 
justinent  of  investments  and  of  labor,  and  prepares  for  a 
more  favorable  future. 

And  what  could  be  more  favorable  than  the  prospect  before 
a  people  who  have  struggled  through  difficulties  of  appalling 
magnitude  until  the  very  excess  of  attainment  in  setting  them 
aside  ijeeame  a  temporary  embarrassment  ?  Nothing  reall}^ 
desirable  can  be  impossible  where  so  much  has  been  so  easily 
achieved.  Where  can  prosperity  be  greater  or  more  certain 
than  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  with  a  trained,  wise  and  skillful 
population  whose  preparations  for  developing  its  illiinituble 
resources  are  fairly  adequate  to  their  needs  ?  What  can  stand 
in  the  way  of  a  nation  that  has  been  so  true  to  its  ])rinciples 
and  mission,  that  has  not  been  discouraged  in  the  storm  and 
whirlwind,  has  ejected  all  i-eal  causes   of  disquiet,   is  fairly 


■I 


I'KUCiKESS    IS    BY    NATURAL    DEVELOPMENT.  Ooi 

equitable  to  all  classes  and  all  sections,  and  finds  itself  at  the 
real  commencement  of  its  career  with  a  territory  so  great 
and  so  rich,  a  series  of  commercial  relations  so  admirable, 
and  a  people  so  thrifty  and  intelligent  ?  With  a  situation 
so  conspicuous  for  advantages  of  every  kind  it  would  be 
impossible  for  America  7iot  to  achieve  an  eminence  of  pros- 
perity and  power  unknown  to  any  other  nation  or  region. 

In  moral  greatness,  in  giving  the  best  chance  to  all  its 
people  without  distinction,  in  dealing  vigorously,  justly  and 
naturally  with  all  the  vexed  questions  of  the  past  she  is  far 
beyond  the  foremost  nation.  In  material  wealth  and  volume 
of  commerce  she  is  now  second,  but  must  necessarily  soon 
be  first. 

Progress,  with  the  Republic,  is  a  process  of  development 
more  natural  and  more  consistent  with  the  interests  and  am- 
bitions of  others  than  with  England.  America  is  a  world  m 
itself ;  England  a  narrow  island  whose  prosperity  depends 
upon  a  world-wide  trade.  The  Republic  has  ample  room, 
ample  resources  in  herself  and  ample  opportunity  for  the 
gratification  of  a  wise  and  peaceful  ambition  in  the  neighbor- 
ing regions  of  her  own  continent.  She  could  scarcely  become 
stronger  by  absorbing  the  territory  of  British  America, 
of  Mexico,  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies.  In  time, 
her  industrial  and  commercial  activities  may  gather  all  the 
benefits  her  people  could  wish  from  intercourse  with  these 
countries,  while  they  develop  politically  under  their  own 
law. 

Before  her  own  lands  are  completely  occupied  and  all  her 
resources  developed  to  their  fullest  capacity,  a  brighter  day 
will  dawn  on  the  nations  so  troubled  by  vain  and  hurtful 
ambitions.  They  will  have  learned  to  devote  themselves,  with 
all  the  zeal  of  Anglo-Americans,  to  the  more  profitable  pur- 
suits of  industry,  to  the  development  of  their  resources  and 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  order  and  quiet  which  peaceful 
pursuits  require.     Like  America,  their  people  will  learn  to 


538  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

content  themselves  with  acquiring  solid  wealth  and  power, 
developing  by  internal  strength,  intelligence,  and  liberty. 
Free  interchanges  with  the  liepublic  of  the  Great  Valley  will 
give  to  each  the  substantial  advantages  most  desired,  and  the 
family  of  nations  will  learn  to  live  together  as  harmoniously 
and  as  usefully  to  each  other  as  does  the  family  of  States  in 
the  American  Union.  The  world  of  nations  will  then  be  a 
Federal  Republic,  not  by  force  and  by  organic  unity,  but  by 
interest,  reason  and  common  consent.  The  Valley  will  be 
the  great  center  of  wealth,  of  organization  and  influence  to 
the  two  Americas.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  will  be  possibly 
even  more  important  than  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  for  it  lies 
between  the  two  most  magnificent  Valleys  in  the  world — 
that  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Amazon — which  will  be,  in 
time,  the  complements  of  each  other. 

The  industries,  the  commerce,  the  energetic  activities  of 
Anglo-Americans  can  never  want  room  to  expand  so  long  as 
they  shall  be  eager  for  fresh  fields.  Home  commerce  and 
trade,  interchanges  between  the  two  Americas,  must  finally 
be  many  times  more  important  than  intercourse  with  Europe 
or  Asia.  It  is  possible  that  the  great  rivers  of  thejValley 
can  not  be  made  to  answer  but  a  small  part  of  the  demands 
of  trade,  and  that  the  railroad  may  ever  be  the  most  important 
reliance  of  the  immense  activity  of  the  Valley;  but  its  rolling 
waters  will  still  point  the  way  that  a  large  proportion  of  out- 
ward bound  exchanges  must  take.  The  countries  about,  and 
the  islands  in,  the  Gulf  have  remained  undeveloped,  but  the 
time  for  them  to  lie  fallow  is  nearly  past.  A  vast  and  pros- 
perous activity  will  gradually  grow  up  and  will  double  the 
wealth  of  the  Valley,  while  theirs  will  be  increased  a  thousand 
fold. 

Such  are  some  of  the  splendid  probabilities  of  the  future, 
apparently  the  necessary  fruit  of  the  freedom  and  the  expan- 
sive energies  of  the  people  of  the  Valley.  America  showed 
the  possibilities  for  good  of  a  thorough  democracy  that  gave 


i 


THE    LESSON    IS    FOR    ALL    TIMES    AND    COUNTRIES.  539 

every  man  the  chance  to  make  tlie  most  of  the  powers  lodged 
in  him  by  nature.  Her  democracy  has  established  the  value 
of  freedom  for  all  time  and  for  the  whole  world.  It  ripens 
men,  brings  out  their  hidden  qualities,  their  latent  abilities 
to  be  useful  to  themselves  and  to  others  and  to  bring  to  per- 
fection the  highest  and  truest  civilization.  When  the  Span- 
ish-American Republics  shall  have  caught,  or  grown  up  to, 
the  perception  of  the  real  cause  of  the  greatness  of  the 
United  States,  they  will  advance  with  astonishing  rapidity 
in  the  same  direction,  stimulated  and  supported  by  the  model 
Republic.  For  this  result  there  is  everything  to  hope  and 
little  or  nothing  to  fear.  The  certainties  of  the  future  are 
almost  inconceivably  great,  and  the  possibilities  are  wholly 
too  wide  and  grand  to  be  grasped  by  the  imagination. 


I 


PART  FOURTH. 


THE  TWO  SLOPES — WEST  AND  EAST  OF  THE  VALLEY. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  has  been  spoken  of  as  lying  between 
two  other  regions  whose  resoiirces,  natural  and  industrial,  are 
very  different  from  those  of  the  great  central  alluvial  plain 
as  well  as  from  each  other.  They  have  each  outside  relations 
by  their  respective  oceans,  through  commerce,  that  are  scarcely 
less  important  to  other  sections  of  the  country  than  to  them- 
selves. 

The  Valley  is,  first  of  all,  agricultural.  However  great  its 
manufacturing  and  mining  may  become,  that  industry  must 
always  take  the  lead  from  its  geological  structure,  its  great 
extent  of  fertile  soil,  its  climatic  conditions  and  its  ready  rela- 
tions with  populous  Europe.  The  East,  or  Atlantic  Slope, 
starting  as  a  string  of  English  colonies  along  the  coast, 
devoted  almost  wholly  to  agriculture,  soon  developed  com- 
merce, and  then  manufactures,  till  it  has  become  one  of  the 
centers  of  the  world  for  those  interests.  The  West,  or  Pa- 
cific Slope,  so  far  as  it  is  Anglo-Saxon — and  its  real  develop- 
ment began  with  the  advent  of  that  race — is  little  more  than 
one  generation  old.  Its  leading  attraction  has  been  mining, 
although  agriculture  has  won  singular  triumphs  in  the  fertile 
and  better  watered  basins  and  valleys.  Ultimately  its  com- 
merce must  develop  to  immense  proportions,  and  manufac- 
turing is  likely,  in  the  long  future,  to  flourish  to  an  extraor- 
dinary degree. 

Notwithstanding  the  prominence  that  has  been  shown  to 
belong  to  the  Great  Valley  as  the  seat  and  center  of  a  new 
and  remarkable   race,    the   Anglo-American  and   its  model 

541 


542  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

Republic,  it,  still,  contains  but  a  part  of  that  race  and  is  only 
one  of  the  sections  of  the  republic.  It  gave  a  iield,  most 
rare  and  suitable,  for  the  exercise  and  expansion  of  the 
peculiar  qualities  of  the  race  after  its  basis  of  character  and 
development  had  been  acquired  on  the  Atlantic  Slope,  and 
prepared  it  for  a  special  and  kindred  form  of  growth  on  the 
Pacific  Slope  and  the  Great  Mountain  Plateau.  Each  of  the 
sections  has  impressed,  and  is  impressing,  on  its  inhabitants 
special  qualities  varying  in  harmony  with  the  Geological  and 
Historical  past.  They  unite  in  the  most  admirable  and  valu- 
able way  to  constitute  one  country  and  nation.  Each  has 
become  quickly  prosperous  and  rich  through  its  connection 
with  the  others.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  which  has  con- 
ferred the  most  and  largest  benefits  on  the  others,  if  the  Val- 
ley had  not  predetermined  the  question  by  its  greater  availa- 
ble surface,  the  variety  of  its  colossal  treasures,  and  the 
extreme  readiness  with  which  it  surrenders  them  to  the 
intelligent  industry  of  the  remarkable  race  that  settled  it. 

This  section  can  not  be  perfectly  understood,  nor  can  the 
extreme  promise  of  its  futiire  be  fully  comprehended,  without 
a  tolerably  full  display  of  the  character,  resources,  condition 
and  relations  of  the  two  others.  Some  chapters,  therefore, 
will  be  given  to  each  of  them. 


CHAPTER  1. 

THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE — HOW    IT    WAS    FORMED. 

The  mountainous  regions  of  the  West  within  the  United 
States  are  about  one  thousand  miles  in  width  by  not  far  from 
two  thousand  in  length.  There  is  iirst  a  high  plateau  with  a 
general  elevation  of  5,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
though  it  varies  in  places  between  4,000  and  7,000.  On  the 
east  this  elevation  extends  far  into  the  Valle3\  From  this 
great  average  hight  of  about  one  mile  (5,280  feet)  spring  a 
series  of  lofty  mountain  ranges,  the  higher  peaks  of  which 
rise  about  twice  as  much  farther  into  the  upper  air,  or  from 
12,000  to  15,000  feet  above  the  sea  level. 

What  produced  such  a  vast  elevation  of  a  region  so  wide 
and  extensive?  A  general  answer  will  be  found  in  the  first 
cha})ter  of  Part  First,  where  the  forces  adequate  to  such  an 
immense  result  are  discussed.  These  forces  were  connected 
with  the  cooling  of  the  earth,  the  gradual  thickening  and 
contraction  of  the  hard  crust  above  a  sea  of  liquid  rock. 
So  great  a  result  as  the  Rocky  Mountain  plateau  and  its 
elevated  ranges  could  not  have  been  obtained  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  earth's  geological  history,  because  the  crust  was 
then  thinner,  would  give  way  more  easily,  and  be  less  able  to 
support  itself,  or  find  support,  if  raised  so  high.  The  masses 
which  form  mountains,  and  the  rocks  that  rest  against  their 
sides,  tell  their  comparative  age  with  great  clearness  and  cer- 
tainty to  a  person  who  has  learned  to  read  the  narrative  they 
have  to  tell.  It  is  one  of  the  most  positive  and  unmistakable 
among  the  many  classes  of  facts  they  have  been  commis- 
sioned to  reveal. 

They  do  not,  inoeed,  speak  in  human  language,  and  so  do 

543 


544  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

not  measure  by  years;  yet  they  have  a  very  accurate  measure 
of  their  own  which  has  only  to  be  translated  to  give  us  a 
fair  idea  of  what  is  geologically  young  and  old.  It  is  as  yet 
difficult  to  express  geological  measures  of  time  in  figures 
with  a  certainty  of  being  nearly  exact;  yet  some  very  learned 
men,  whose  studies  and  conclusions  have  been  received  with 
great  respect  by  those  who  are  the  best  judges  of  their  value, 
have  called  in  astronomy  to  assist  in  the  computations  and 
have  given  us  figures  which  are  now  finding  general  accept- 
ance as  at  least  approximations. 

Sir  William  Thompson  has  estimated  the  time  that  has 
passed  since  the  Life  Force  first  began  to  produce  vegetable 
and  animal  organisms,  traces  of  whose  remains  are  found  in 
the  early  rocks,  at  one  hundred  millions  of  years.  This  is  a 
period  too  long  for  us  to  realize,  and  yet  it  is  some  thousands 
of  times  shorter  than  some  geologists  claim. 

The  comparative  length  of  the  three  great  geological 
periods  of  time  since  life  began  on  the  earth  has  been  es- 
timated, by  authorities  of  the  highest  reputation,  as  twelve 
for  the  Palaeozoic — the  Ancient  or  early  period — three  ibr  the 
Mesozoic — or  Middle  period — and  one  for  the  Cenozoic,  or 
Recent  period.  This  would  give  something  over  seventy- 
four  millions  of  years  for  the  Ancient  Time;  eighteen  mil- 
lions for  the  Middle  Period;  and  six  millions  for  the  last 
Period  reaching  to  the  present.  Some  parts  of  the  Green 
Mountains,  of  Vermont,  and  the  low  Laurentine  range  north 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  Canada,  date  back  to  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  estimate — or  one  hundred  millions  of  years,  if 
the  above  estimate  be  allowed.  The  Alleghanies  were  raised 
about  the  close  of  the  Palaeozoic,  or  Ancient  Period,  and  so 
are  nearly  seventy -five  millions  of  years  younger;  while  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  the  high  plain  on  which  they  stand 
were  raised  some  twenty  or  more  millions  of  years  later. 
The  elevation  commenced  near  the  close  of  the  Mesozoic,  and 
was  not  fully  completed  till  two-thirds  or  more  of  the  Ceno- 

1P 


THE    TIME    REQUIRED    FOR    MOUNTAIN-MAKING.  545 

jrtji'r  -fiad  passed.  Tlie  above  estimate  of  one  hundred  mil- 
lions of  years  is  not  considered  by  men  of  science  as  final; 
yet  there  are  many  strong  reasons  for  believing  it  near  the 
truth.  Closer  study  may  change  the  verdict,  but  the  more 
careful  the  recent  study  has  been  the  more  have  geologists 
been  impressed  with  the  idea<  that  time  is  long,  that  nature 
has  been  intiniteiy  deliberate  in  her  work,  and  that  vast  peri- 
ods must  be  allowed. 

The  raising  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  not  all  done  at 
once,  as  to  the  plateau  or  the  various  chains  of  high  peaks. 
The  Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Wahsatch  ranges  are  among  the 
oldest — the  ranges  in  Colorado  and  Montana,  and  the  Coast 
ranges  of  California,  Oregon  and  Washington  being  a  later 
product  of  the  elevating  force,  the  time  occupied  from  first 
to  last  being  some  millions  of  years.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Cenozoic,  or  Recent  Time,  is  divided  into  two  great 
Periods,  the  Tertiary-  and  Quaternary.  The  Tertiary  is  sub- 
divided into  the  Eocene,  Miocene  and  Pliocene  Eras,  and 
the  Quaternary  into  the  Glacial,  Champlain  and  Terrace 
Eras.  The  permanent  elevation  of  the  Rockj'  Mountains 
commenced  just  before  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  and 
was  about  completed  at  its  close.  Small  changes  have  been 
in  progress  down  to  the  present,  yet  the  Rocky  Mountain 
region  was,  at  the  beginning  of  the  great  Ice  Age  (or  the 
close  of  the  Tertiary)  substantially  what  it  is  now  except  the 
surface  changes  produced  during  that  Era  and  later.  Geolo- 
gists do  not  attempt  to  determine  the  actual  space  of  time 
which  passed  during  the  lapse  of  each  of  the  periods  and 
eras,  but  the  six  million  years  which  Sir  William  Thomp- 
son's figures  would  assign  to  the  Recent  Period,  or  Cenozoic, 
would  allow  three  to  five  millions  to  the  Tertiary. 

That  is  a  very  long  period;  but  the  elevation  of  the  vast 

plateaus  and  mountain  peaks  of  North  and  South  America 

must  have   been  almost  inconceivably  slow.     A  sudden   and 

rapid  exertion  of  the  forces  required  to  accomplish  it  would 

35 


546  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

have  broken  up  the  whole  crust,  so  as  to  render  it  useless  for 
the  purposes  of  man,  if  it  had  not  produced  the  destruction 
and  scattering  of  the  whole  planet.  To  render  the  surface  of 
the  earth  fit  for  the  support  and  purposes  of  the  human  race, 
in  harmony  with  and  through  the  operation  of  the  known 
properties  and  laws  of  matter,  required  these  vast  lapses  of 
time,  and  a  carefully  restrained  operation  of  the  immense 
forces  brought  into  play. 

Accordingly,  this  region  was  first  provided  with  a  very  firm 
and  thick  floor,  which  could  be  raised  as  a  whole,  and  remain 
in  position  when  raised,  while  the  majestic  forces  were  al- 
lowed a  vent  and  relief  along  the  many  lines  of  fracture,  or 
greatest  weakness,  where  the  crust  was  slowly  broken  and 
thrust  up  miles  into  the  upper  air.  When  the  strain  became 
too  great  and  threatened  destruction,  an  earthquake  would 
rend  the  rocks  in  places,  numerous  volcanoes  would  pour  out 
torrents  of  gas  and  smoke  and  flame,  along  with  the  vast 
mass  of  liquid  rock  that  ran  in  a  fiery  flood  over  all  the 
neighboring  regions,  and  cooled  into  lava  sometimes  thou- 
sands of  feet  deep.  In  this  way  volcanoes  were  safety  valves, 
easing  off  too  severe  a  strain,  while  at  the  same  time  contrib- 
uting very  largely  and  in  many  ways  to  the  preparation  of 
the  surface  for  human  uses.  The  mass  of  mountain  and 
elevated  plain  was  made  higher,  some  of  the  extreme  rough- 
ness was  covered,  much  valuable  chemical  matter  that  was 
afterward  to  enrich  mankind,  was  brought  out  from  the  mys- 
terious deptlis  of  the  interior  of  the  earth,  and,  above  all, 
during  this  fiery  outpouring — at  least  a  part  of  it — the  chem- 
ical laboratory  that  produced  or  collected  gold  or  silver,  and 
some  other  rare  and  valuable  minerals,  was  set  at  work  and 
its  vast  crucibles  kept  sufficiently  heated. 

Thus  the  raising  of  so  much  bare  rock  above  the  general 
level,  whicli  prevented  their  being  covered  with  soft  earth 
and  soil  and  made  useful  for  agricultural  purposes,  was 
counter-balanced  by  the  creation,  or  collection,  of  boundless 


HOW    GOLD,  SILVER    AND    SOIL    WERE    PRODUCED.  547 

mineral  stores  of  the  most  valuable  and  attractive  kind. 
While  the  rocks  were  yielding  to  vast  pressure  by  opening 
gaping  cracks  and  fissures,  and  the  sea  of  fire  beneath  was 
thrusting  up  its  foaming  waves  throiigh  every  deep  crevice, 
the  intense  heat  developed  in  their  neighborhood  drove 
chemical  agencies  into  the  liveliest  action.  Hot  alkaline  solu- 
tions of  silica  and  other  rock  filled  the  opened  cracks  which 
lava  did  not  reach  and  collected,  apparently,  by  chemical  at- 
traction gold,  silver  and  other  minerals  from  the  heated  re- 
gion about  them  into  these  crevices.  They  cooled  in  this 
position  and  formed  veins,  lodes  and  nuggets  of  precious 
metals,  and  made  the  Eocky  Mountain  region  in  general  one 
enormous  mine  of  incalculable  wealth. 

This  elevation,  as  has  been  said,  was  so  gradual  that  the 
general  floor  was  broken  only  along  the  lines  of  higher  ele- 
vation. Extensive  regions  remained  comparatively  low  be- 
tween, or  outside,  the  ranges,  and  the  grading  down  of  the 
elevations  by  the  atmosphere,  snow,  ice  and  running  waters, 
gathered  in  them  a  remarkably  large  mass  of  earth  to  form 
a  rich  soil.  Central  California  is  a  great  basin,  some  450 
miles  long  by  65  broad,  bounded  by  the  Sierra  Nevada  on 
the  east,  and  the  Coast  Range  on  the  west.  The  great  Utah 
Basin  is  several  times  larger,  though  divided  into  two  un- 
equal parts  by  the  Wahsatch  Range.  Many  basins  besides, 
various  in  size  and  elevation,  are  found  over  the  whole  region. 
Placed  so  as  to  receive  large  quantities  of  rock  ground  into 
fine  earth,  beyond  measure  rich  in  chemical  material  for  the 
support  of  vegetation,  their  productiveness  is  only  limited  by 
the  supply  of  surface  moisture.  This  is  very  unevenly,  and, 
in  many  cases,  most  inconveniently  furnished.  Yet  the  moun- 
tain ranges  are  huge  condensers  and  collect  vast  quantities  of 
moisture  from  the  clouds,  which  they  generally  relieve  of 
their  burden  in  the  form  of  snow.  This,  melting  and  failing 
in  mountain  torrents  into  the  basins  and  valleys,  forms  a 
multitude  of  streams  and  lakes  which  may  be  distributed  bv 


54:8  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

iiKiii  when  his  needs  call  for  it,  so  as  to  secure  the  larger  part 
of  the  value,  perhaps,  of  the  extremely  rich  stores  of  agricul- 
tural material.  Parts  of  the  general  region — especially  the 
northern  part  of  the  Pacific  Slope  proper,  westward  of  the 
higher  ranges — are  well  watered  as  it  is,  and  extremely  pro- 
ductive with  moderate  labor. 

Such,  in  general  terms,  is  the  Mountain  Empire  bounding 
the  Great  Valley  on  the  West  and  bordering  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  river  systems  are  naturally  as  disconnected  as 
the  agricultural  areas,  and  available  for  purposes  of  com- 
merce only  to  a  limited  degree.  Yet,  joined  to  the  long  line 
of  coast,  they  are  destined  to  great  and  most  valuable  uses. 
California,  not  very  far  from  its  center,  has  a  break  in  its 
coast  line,  of  no  great  width,  but  answering  all  the  purposes 
of  ocean  commerce,  and  a  deep,  land-locked  bay  extends  in 
various  arms  far  inland,  furnishing  as  good  a  port  and  medium 
of  communication  with  the  central  valley  and  the  outside 
world  as  could  well  be  conceived.  The  Sacramento  River 
receives  the  collective  waters  of  the  upper  valley  and  conveys 
them  to  this  bay,  the  San  Joaquin  performing  the  same  office 
for  the  lower  valley.  The  regions  about  the  bay  are  therefore 
the  lowest  in  the  valley,  and  the  rivers  serve  the  purposes 
of  internal  commerce  and  communication  for  some  distance 
on  their  lower  courses,  railroads  connecting  the  more  distant 
parts  with  the  center. 

Oregon  and  Washington  possess  a  large  river  in  common — 
the  Columbia.  By  its  various  branches,  it  drains  several 
extensive  regions  both  north  and  south  in  the  interior  basin, 
or  plateau,  between  the  mountains,  collecting  waters  from 
the  borders  of  the  Utah  basin  southward,  and  also  from 
British  Columbia  far  to  the  north.  Several  hundred  miles 
of  its  course  are  navigable,  though  interrupted  by  rapids  at 
different  points.  The  distance  of  unbroken  navigation  from 
its  inoutli  is  160  miles. 

The  Colorado  River  is  the  third  large  stream  of  the  Pacific 


THE    IDEAL    OF    DESOLATION.  549 

Slope.  It  drains  a  very  large  region,  much  of  which  is  a 
high  rocky  plateau.  It  is  capable  of  being  used  as  a  com- 
mercial highway  several  hundred  miles  from  the  point  where 
it  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  at  least  during  high 
water.  Its  mouth  is  near,  but  not  within,  the  limits  of  the 
United  States.  The  territory  it  drains  is  the  driest,  and,  in 
some  respects,  most  forbidding  on  the  Slope;  yet,  so  far  as 
can  now  be  estimated,  it  is  the  richest  in  minerals,  and  its 
valleys  and  plateaus,  wherever  they  can  be  irrigated,  are  of 
remarkable  fertility. 

Thus,  this  vast  mountain  region  is  one  of  great  extremes, 
of  violent  contrasts.  At  first  sight  this  sea  of  mountains, 
rocky  plateaus  and  rainless  basins  seemed  a  desert — almost 
the  ideal  of  desolation.  The  few  valleys  and  oases  in  the 
midst  of  bare  rock  and  alkali  deserts  appeared  practically 
inaccessible,  at  least  for  purposes  of  useful  intercourse  with 
the  civilized  world,  and  seemed  to  be  capable  of  supporting 
but  a  very  limited  number  of  human  beings  from  their  own 
resources.  Even  the  approaches  to  it  wore  a  forbidding  look. 
The  vast  plains  of  the  Western  Valley  were  so  lightly  watered 
as  to  bear  the  appearance  of  a  desert  the  larger  part  of  the 
year.  Arid  and  hot  in  summer,  the  fierce  blasts  of  the 
Arctic  North  swept  over  them  in  winter.  California,  lying 
an  the  coast,  seemed  more  favored;  yet,  the  portion  directly 
on  the  ocean,  only  part  of  which  received  sufficient  moisture 
in  all  the  seasons,  was  limited  by  a  range  of  mountains  sev- 
eral thousand  feet  high  not  far  inland,  and  its  central  basin 
received  abundant  rains  only  during  the  winter  months,  the 
rainless  summer  parching  and  destroying  vegetation  over 
much  of  its  broad  expanse,  and  seeming  to  bid  defiance  to 
the  agriculturist,  except  in  favored  spots.  Stock  might  find 
abundant  pasturage  during  the  rainy  season,  but  must  be 
limited  to  such  numbers  as  could  be  supported  by  the  less 
arid  uplands  du/ing  the  drier  ^^easond. 

The  northern  coast  seemed  to  be  more  favored,  the  river 


550  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

system  of  the  Columbia  giving  readier  access  to  the  interior 
and  the  form  of  the  continent  in  the  North  opening  the 
region  back  of  the  Coast  Range  somewhat  more  fully  to  the 
moisture-laden  winds  from  the  warm  ocean  current  that 
sweeps  across  the  North  Pacific  from  the  Indian  Ocean  past 
China  and  Japan.  Here,  next  the  ocean,  was  an  immense 
forest,  yet  bounded  on  tlie  east  by  lofty  mountains  and  a 
vast  breadth  of  lava  fields,  rocky  valleys,  range  after  range 
of  mountain  heights,  and  the  sterile  plains  of  the  Missouri 
beyond.  The  distance  by  sea  to  civilized  lands  seemed  to 
place  any  extensive  use  of  the  valuable  timber  and  fertile 
soil  in  an  indefinite  but  far-distant  future. 

Such  was  the  apparent  condition  of  the  mountain  and 
coast  areas  to  the  eye  and  apprehension  of  the  European,  so 
far  as  he  was  able  to  learn  during  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
such  it  continued  to  appear  for  about  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  to  civilized  man. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

ARIZONA THE    LAND    OF    PLATEAUS. 

The  early  civilizations  of  North  America  were  more  em- 
barrassed in  growth  and  more  frequently  broken  up  altogether 
than  those  of  the  Old  World.  The  more  imperfect  develop- 
ment of  those  which  continued  to  flourish  must  have  been 
due  in  part  to  unhealthy  disturbance;  and  the  relics  of  lost 
races,  the  very  memory  of  which  had  vanished  even  from  the 
localities  where  they  left  what  has  not  yet  perished  of  the 
record  of  their  organized  industry,  sliow  the  greater  disad- 
vantages that  attended  progress  on  the  "Western  than  the 
Eastern  Continent.  America  was  too  simple  and  broad  in 
the  outlines  of  its  more  favored  regions,  and  these  were  too 
readily  overrun  by  wild  highland  tribes,  to  favor  a  strong 
and  many-sided  growth. 

Tartary,  Scythia  and  Germany  always  swarmed  with  rov- 
ing, restless  tribes,  whose  character  and  manners  were  as 
stern  as  their  climate.  They  were  always  a  terror  and  dan- 
ger to  the  civilizations  further  south,  but  the  readiest  open- 
ings to  their  wanderings  were  east  and  west.  High  moun- 
tain ranges  on  the  north  protected  Oriental,  Greek  and 
Koman  civilization.  The  Eocky  Mountain  plateau  seems 
to  have  been  as  prolific  in  fierce  hunter  tribes  as  those  Old 
World  regions  in  rude  wandering  warriors.  They  grew  up 
there  robust,  healthy  and  aggressive,  disposed  to  seek  a  more 
favored  region,  but  finding  it  only  in  the  direction  of  a  pro- 
gressive people. 

As  the  Teuton,  Hun,  Slavic  and  Tartar  tribes  of  North- 
ern Europe  and  Asia  from  the  beginning  of  history  were  a 
constant  menace  to  the  warm,  rich  countries  of  the  South,  so 

551 


552  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

the  Rocky  Mountain  tribes  were  ever  pressing  eastward  to 
the  Mississippi  Valley  or  south  along  the  plateau  towards 
Arizona  or  Mexico.  The  specialty  of  the  Pacific  coast,  for 
these  primitive  men,  was  its  fisheries,  which  did  not  greatly 
invite  the  hunters  of  the  interior  in  the  North,  and  in  Cali- 
fornia the  hot,  dry  climate  was  not  favorable  to  a  lai'ge  popu- 
lation of  hunters.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  much  troubled, 
or  mingled  with,  the  coast  tribes  of  Upper  and  Lower  Cali- 
fornia, who,  not  being  required  to  develop  intelligence  and 
energy  in  self-defense,  degenerated.  At  least,  what  is  known 
of  them  from  the  reports  of  the  first  European  explorers 
indicates  a  lower  type  of  character  than  elsewhere  then,  as  in 
still  more  modern  times. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Mound  Builders  of  the  Eastern 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi  long  enjoyed  complete  immunity 
from  attack,  although  the  fact  that  they  did  not  occupy,  to 
any  great  extent,  tlie  large  and  fertile  territories  on  the  west 
of  that  stream  wnuld  appear  to  imply  some  obstacle  in  that 
direction.  But  their  civilization  was  too  weak  in  progres- 
sive elements  and  too  imperfect  in  structure  to  hold  its 
ground,  in  the  end,  against  the  growing  numbers  of  the 
fierce  hunter  tribes  and  they  perished.  They  were  not  as 
fortunate  as  the  Toltecs  of  Mexico  in  the  twelfth  century. 
These  cultured  people  were  conquered  by  the  Aztecs,  in 
arms,  but  were  able  to  civilize  their  conquerors  and  com- 
mence a  new  era  of  progress,  as  did  the  Etrurians,  and  the 
Modern  Latins  when  conquered  by  the  Goths  and  Huns,  the 
Franks  and  Saxons. 

Arizona,  with  some  parts  of  Colorado  and  New  Mexico 
adjoining,  is  a  region  of  plateaus — "  mesas,"  or  table-lands, 
the  Spaniards  called  them.  This  structure  was  caused  by 
the  elevation  of  the  whole  region  forming  it  at  the  same 
time  so  that  the  layers  of  rock — laid  originally  in  water 
many  thousand  feet  below  their  present  altitude^did  not 
lose  their  horizontal  position  during  the  elevation.     This,  at 


THE    ORIGI^•    OF    THE    CANONS    OF   ARIZONA.  553 

least,  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  fact  in  much  of  this  region, 
especially  for  the  higher  deposits.  There  were,  however, 
many  breaks  in  the  crust  of  this  vast  elevated  table  through 
which  rocks  lying  underneath  were  thrust  up,  forming  many 
mountain  chains  whose  loftiest  peaks  rise  twice  as  high  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  as  the  general  surface  of  tiie  plateau.  The 
nucleus  of  these  mountains  is  generally  granite — the  original 
solid  floor  of  the  first  universal  sea,  on  which  the  various 
classes  of  stratified  rock  accumulated  for  a  hundred  mil- 
lions of  years,  perhaps. 

Wlien  this  plateau  and  these  mountains  were  raised,  began 
that  opposite  process  of  leveling  and  washing  away  to  the 
sea  which  has  caused  a  great  part  of  the  constant  accumula- 
tion of  rock,  in  every  age,  at  the  bottom  of  all  waters.  As 
eacli  age  and  region  contributed  to  the  rocks  it  made  some 
part  of  the  remains  of  its  characteristic  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  the  geologists  thereby  found  a  clue  to  the  history  and 
changes  of  the  past.  But  this  plateau  seems  to  have  been 
much  what  it  is  now  in  climate  since  it  was  first  raised.  It 
has  never  been  generally  and  freely  watered  by  the  clouds;  it 
was  so  far  south  ,that  the  small  amount  of  moisture  it  did 
receive  on  its  levels  and  gentle  slopes  immediately  ran  off  or 
evaporated  and  left  the  rocks  bare  and  dry;  wliile  the  snows 
of  its  mountains  melted  only  to  hurry  with  mad  haste  to  the 
ocean  by  the  readiest  channels. 

Its  streams,  therefore,  have  worn  deep  channels  through 
the  solid  rock.  These  rocky  gorges  are  called  "  Canons"  and 
constitute  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  tlie  region. 
The  leveling  process  of  past  ages  has  here  been  more  than 
usually  confined  to  the  production  of  these  deep  and  narrow 
cavities,  in  the  bottom  of  which  the  general  mass  of  waters 
gathered  from  the  whole  region  rushes  swiftly  down  a  steep 
incline  to  sea  level:  They  are  so  confined,  the  descent  is  so 
great  for  long  distances,  the  rocks  so  uniform  in  hardness  or 
softness,  and  they   carry   along  so  much   gritty  material   to 


554  .  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

scour  the  rocks  at  the  bottom  of  the  stream,  that  they  have 
produced  eifects  of  singular  magnitude  and  impressiveness. 
The  Colorado  River  is  about  1,200  miles  in  length.  Its 
Great  Caiion  is  400  miles  long  and  has,  through  almost  the 
whole  distance,  a  depth,  from  the  top  of  the  plateau  to  the 
surface  of  the  river,  of  4,000  to  6,000  feet.  For  the  most 
part  this  immense  gorge  has  perpendicular  sides.  Usually 
there  is  very  little  or  no  space  between  the  stream  and  the 
smooth  upright  wall  of  rock  on  either  side,  and  breaks  in  the 
continuous  surface  of  this  wall  have  been  made  only  where  a 
side  stream  has  worn  a  collateral  canon  back  to  a  greater  or 
less  distance  by  the  same  friction  of  its  waters  during  un- 
known centuries. 

This  long  narrow  trough,  worn  in  solid  rock  from  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  to  a  mile  and  a  quarter  straight  down 
toward  the  center  of  the  earth,  and  that  for  a  continuous  dis- 
tance of  four  hundred  miles,  is  unrivaled  by  a  wonder  of 
equal  magnitude  in  all  respects  in  any  part  of  the  earth. 
The  great  power  of  a  running  stream  is  here  illustrated  to 
the  utmost,  and  produces  an  astonishment  in  the  beholder 
quite  beyond  expression.  Most  of  the  streams  of  this  ele- 
vated region  have  worn  similar  cavities,  more  or  less  deep,  in 
some  part  of  their  course,  although  many  of  them  have  fine, 
fertile  valleys  of  considerable  width  which  furnish  unrivaled 
facilities  for  prosperous  agriculture. 

The  great  Colorado  plateau,  thus  seamed  with  deep  canons 
by  the  main  river  and  its  branches,  occupies  the  northeast 
part  of  Arizona.  Much  of  the  higher  level  is  6,000,  and 
some  even  7,000,  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ocean.  On  its 
southern  border  runs  the  largest  branch  of  the  lower  Colo- 
rado, the  Gila  River.  This  rises  in  New  Mexico  and  flows 
almost  directly  westward  across  the  southern  center  of  Ari- 
zona. Its  valley  contains  much  fertile  land  with  the  stream 
available  for  irrigation.  It  has  deep  narrow  canons  onlv  in 
its  upper  course.     Many  streams  flow  into  it,  along  and  be- 


THE    AGEICULTUEAL    LANDS    OF    ARIZONA.  555 

tween  wliicli  are  extensive,  and  comparatively  level,  surfaces 
that  may  be  irrigated. 

The  lowest  part  of  Arizona  is  at  the  southwest,  where  the 
level  descends  within  100  feet  of  tide  water.  Several  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  of  valley  land,  suitable  for  cultivation,  lie 
alonir  the  Colorado  below  the  terminus  of  the  Great  Canon. 
The  plateau  in  the  western  center  of  the  Territory,  not  being 
more  than  4,000  feet  in  elevation,  and  its  streams  cutting 
into  the  rock  with  general  moderation,  contains  much  agri- 
cultural land.  Anciently  the  high  plateau  above  the  Gila 
and  east  of  this  lower  bench  was  crossed  from  west  to  east 
by  a  line  of  volcanoes  whose  fires  are  now  extinct.  Many 
thousand  square  miles  of  the  plateau  have  been  deluged,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  these  former  craters,  with  lava.  It  is 
one  of  the  large  lava  fields  of  the  world,  and  presents  a  vast 
sum  of  hopelessly  bare  rock,  beneath  which  is  probably  con- 
cealed a  great  amount  of  mineral  treasure.  Sevei-al  chains 
of  mountains  cross  this  high  plain  from  northwest  to  south- 
east, with  level  spaces  between  on  which  there  is  more  or 
less  pulverized  rock,  furnishing  material  for  a  rich  soil  and 
some  good  opportunities  for  irrigation  from  the  mountain 
streams. 

Some  extensive  forests  cover  the  mountain  sides  here. 
One  is  said  to  be  400  miles  long — part  of  this  lying  outside 
of  Arizona — and  forty  miles  wide.  Many  rich  valleys  and 
grassy  levels  appear,  as  the  Colorado  and  New  Mexico  line  is 
approached,  highly  promising,  it  is  said,  by  the  few  explorers 
who  have  seen  it,  for  the  future  farmer  and  herdsman.  Yet 
these  favorable  features  are,  in  appearance,  local.  The  gen- 
eral aspect  of  all  Arizona  is  one  of  sublime  desolation. 

South  of  the  Gila  the  surface  rocks  have  been  more  dis- 
turbed by  volcanic  forces,  and  many  chains  of  mountains  are 
found  of  various  length,  height  and  direction;  yet  the  char- 
acter of  a  plateau  remains.  A  comparatively  level  belt  in 
this  latitude  crosses  the  whole  mountain  plateau  to  the  Rio 


556  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

Grande  River  and  the  head  waters  of  the  atfluents  of  the  Lower 
Mississippi.  It  is  said  to  be  nowhere  over  4,000  feet  in 
height  and  is  the  most  suitable  route  for  a  trans-continental 
railroad — so  far  as  difficulties  of  construction  are  concerned 
— between  the  Mexican  and  British  American  boundaries. 
In  the  beginning  of  1880  a  continuous  line  from  San  Fran- 
cisco had  already  been  extended  far  up  the  Gila  Valley,  and 
its  further  construction  was  being  rapidly  pushed  on  east- 
ward, while  a  road  from  the  east  had  then  reached  the  Rio 
Grande,  to  be  extended  both  to  the  Gulf  of  California,  at 
Guaymas,  in  Mexico,  and  to  the  Pacific,  in  California. 


CHAPTER   III. 


PBEHISTOEIC    ARIZONA. 


Arizona,  until  recent  years  at  least,  has  been  to  the  Euro 
pean  a  lapd  of  more  mysteries,  terrors  and  dangers  than  any 
other  part  of  North  America.  Its  apparent  sterility  was 
very  great,  the  Indian  tribes  roaming  over  it  were  remarkably 
fierce,  great  changes  appeared  to  have  passed  over  it,  uncer- 
tain rumors  of  its  vast  canons  have  been  fully  verified  and 
defined  by  scientific  exploration  but  lately,  and  romantic 
legends  like  those  told  by  the  Aztecs  to  Cortez  have  been 
more  or  less  current  in  every  generation  since.  The  belief 
in  hidden  treasures  seemed  countenanced  by  the  "planchas  de 
plata,"  plates  of  silver,  talked  of  by  the  adventurous  mission- 
aries of  a  hundred  years  ago.  They  found  remarkably  rich 
deposits  of  almost  pure  silver,  and,  putting  their  treasure 
under  military  protection,  it  was  confiscated  by  the  Spanish 
authorities.  For  this  reason,  and  because  of  growing  danger 
from  the  Apaches,  open  investigation  ceased.  Unsatisfied 
curiosity  exaggerated,  or,  it  may  be,  invented,  tales  still  more 
marvelous. 

These  mysteries  and  fearful  surmises  are  now  being  dissi- 
pated as  far  as  science  and  enterprise  can  do  it;  but  there  is 
one  which  appears  more  likely  to  remain  unsolved  than  those 
which  surround  the  works  of  the  Mound  Builders  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  It  regards  the  origin  of  its  prehistoric  rel- 
ics— the  story  of  a  lost  race  which  left  behind  it  ruins  of  large 
towns,  irrigating  canals  of  great  length,  and  various  evi- 
dences of  a  civilization  still  better  organized,  in  some  respects 
at  least,  than  that  of  the  ancient  agriculturists  of  the  Great 
Valley. 

These  ruins  were  more  striking  and  impressive  than  those 

557 


■  & 


558  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

of  the  Mound  Builders,  because  they  consisted  of  brick  and 
stone,  and  were  evidently  the  remains  of  the  habitations  of 
the  people  who  produced  them.  The  region  in  which  they 
are  situated  was  so  bare  and  desolate,  and  contained  so  few 
other  objects  to  attract  attention,  that  they  became  the  subject 
of  inquiry  and  speculation  to  the  first  Europeans  who  sought 
to  find  there  new  communities  to  plunder  and  new  stores  of 
gold.  When  Mexico  was  conquered,  in  1521,  variqus  rumors 
and  legends,  dim  and  undefined,  hinting  of  a  variety  of  won- 
derful things  in  these  depths  of  the  continent,  excited  the  cu- 
riosity and  cupidity  of  the  Spaniards.  In  1535  an  adventurer, 
who  was  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  Texas,  wandered  across 
the  upper  E.io  Grande,  and  made  report  of  towns  and  fort- 
resses and  organized  industries.  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
penetrated  farther  than  the  headwaters  of  the  Gila  and  other 
eastern  tributaries  of  the  Colorado,  in  western  New  Mexico. 
The  Gulf  of  California  had  already  been  discovered,  and  a 
zealous  missionary  j)riest,  in  1739,  sought  to  penetrate  to  this 
region  of  marvels  from  that  side.  The  Aztec  legends  of  the 
''  Seven  cities  of  Cibola"  seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  the 
Moquis,  Zunis,  and  others,  near  the  border  of  New  Mexico. 
These  the  priest.  Padre  Niza,  set  out  to  find.  He  seems  to 
have  penetrated  to  the  lower  Gila,  and  speaks  of  the  great 
ruins    still  found  there. 

He  took  back  to  Mexico  a  most  wonderful  and  attractive 
account  of  the  Seven  Cities,  one  of  which  was  Cibola.  Ac- 
cording to  him  it  was  another  Peru,  and  visions  of  boundless 
stores  of  gold  awaiting  seizure  seem  to  have  originated  the 
expedition  of  Coronado,  in  15-10.  Various  branches  of  this 
and  connected  expeditions,  in  the  course  of  the  following  two 
years,  seem  to  have  made  a  general  reconnoissance  of  the 
whole  plateau  region,  from  the  Colorado  River  to  the  Rio 
Grande  and  the  western  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  in  the 
same  latitude.  They  went  up  the  Colorado  from  its  mouth 
a  long  distance,  visited  the  lower  Gila,  penetrated  from  the 


SPANISH    EXPLORATIONS    IN    AEIZONA.  559 

Pueblo  villages  in  New  Mexico  northwest  to  the  Great 
Canon  of  the  Colorado,  and  fairly  solved,  in  the  negative, 
the  question  of  cities  where  gold  was  as  plentiful  as  stones. 
No  large  stores  of  the  precious  metals  were  found,  although 
there  were  indications  of  raining  wealth  in  New  Mexico. 
Such  communities  as  were  in  any  degree  civilized — and  there 
were  many  of  them  on  the  eastern  border  of  Arizona,  and  in 
the  Rio  Grande  valley — were  industrious  but  poor.  They 
gained  a  frugally  comfortable  living  from  cultivation  of  the 
soil.  In  the  mountainous  or  plateau  regions  their  houses 
were  fortresses,  and  commonly  built  in  situations  difficult  of 
access  by  their  enemies,  the  wild  tribes. 

These  explorations  led  to  the  ultimate  establishment  of 
Spanisli  authority  and  civilization  in  New  Mexico  and  to 
more  or  less  mining  there,  but  produced  no  result  as  to  Ari- 
zona, except  a  slmdder  at  its  desolate  aspect,  aud  some  ob- 
servations and  inquiries  as  to  the  ruins  around  the  western 
and  soutliern  base  of  the  high  plateau.  The  Pimas  and  Mar- 
icopas  were  located  then,  as  now,  on  the  lower  course  of  the 
Gila.  Very  slightly  civilized,  they  still  lived  by  cultivation. 
They  could  not  explain  the  ruins.  Their  traditions  seemed 
to  extend  backward  about  400  years;  but  the  "  Casas Grande," 
or  great  stone  houses  forming  the  ruins,  were  then  aban- 
doned, and  were,  apparently,  as  great  an  enigma  to  their 
fathers  of  tlie  thirteenth  centurv  as  to  themselves,  of  the  six- 
teenth. Evidently,  several  centuries  had,  at  that  distant  time, 
already  passed  since  the  houses  had  been  occupied,  the  "ace- 
quias,"  or  irrigating  canals,  filled  with  water,  and  the  desert 
■lands  covered  with  bountiful  crops.  The  eai'ly  centuries  of 
the  Christian  Era,  when  modern  civilization  was  striking  its 
first  roots  in  Western  Europe,  would  seem  to  be  the  latest 
reasonable  date  to  assign  as  that  of  tlieir  abandonment. 

There  is  not,  however,  as  yet,  much  detailed  data  on  which 
to  found  theories.  From  1540  down  to  1850  the  Jesuit  and 
Franciscan  Fathers  who  founded  Missions  in  California  and 


660  THE    TACIFIC    SLOPE. 

northern  Mexico  seldom  penetrated  to  the  region  of  the 
ruins,  and  then  hurried  away  as  quickly  as  possible  from  a 
land  which  held  few  attractions  and  many  dangers  for  them. 
About  a  hundred  miles  south  of  the  Gila,  and  also  far  from 
the  ruins,  a  series  of  Missions  was  established  in  the  eight- 
eenth century;  but  the  power  of  the  fierce  Apaches  seemed 
to  rise  and  increase  in  hostility  as  that  of  the  Spanish  do- 
minion in  Mexico  became  enfeebled  and  lost  control  of  the 
distant  border  tribes,  and  the  adventurous  priests  must  be 
constantly  ready  to  suffer  martyrdom  if  they  offered  them- 
selves for  this  field  of  labor.  It  must  be  said,  to  the  credit 
of  their  zeal  and  sincerity,  that  such  devotion  was  not  want- 
ing, and  of  forty-seven  who  were  stationed  at  the  Missions 
on  the  southwestern  borders  of  Arizona,  half,  at  least,  died 
or  were  massaci-ed  by  the  Wild  Hunter  tribes.  But  they 
were  successful  in  acquiring  influence  among  those  they 
actually  taught  and  some  fruit  of  their  self-sacrificing  labors 
still  remains. 

Yet,  as  elsewhere,  in  proportion  as  the  tribes  submitted  to 
European  or  Christianizing  influence  thej'  lost  their  native 
vigor  and  required  civilized  protection  from  their  natural 
enemies.  When  their  protectors  and  guides,  the  Catholic 
priests,  were  murdered  or  driven  away  they  diminished  in 
numbers  and  prosperity,  so  that,  when  this  region,  between 
18.50  and  1860,  became  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States,  the  Missions  wei-e  mostly  in  ruins  and  the  natives  for 
whose  benefit  they  had  been  built  were  but  a  miserable  rem- 
nant. 

From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  many 
Americans  made  visits,  oflicial  or  adventurous,  to  south- 
western Arizona.  Some  mining  and  farming  operations 
were  undertaken,  and  various  ambitious  plans  were  conceived 
with  respect  to  the  adjoining  Mexican  province,  or  State  of 
Sonora.  One  Anierican  and  one  French  military  adventurer 
collected  some  hundreds  of  rude  men  from  California  and 


AMERICAN    EXPLORATION    AND    ADVENTURE.  561 

other  borders  of  civilization,  as  then  existing,  armed  them 
and  undertook  expeditions  in  the  direction  of  Sonora.  All 
these  attempts  came  to  a  sad  end,  or  only  resulted  in  flying 
trips  through  the  region  of  the  ruins. 

After  the  title  to  Arizona  had  been  acquired  by  that 
Republic,  various  scientific  expeditions  under  the  direction 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  usually  in  charge 
of  an  army  officer  with  a  scientific  corps  attached,  explored 
the  plateau.  These  had  reference  especially  to  the  topogra- 
phy, or  surface  features,  of  the  country,  to  its  geology,  min- 
erals, and  other  resources.  Their  labors  were  more  especially 
directed  to  the  higher  plateau,  the  Colorado  Eiver  and  Canon, 
and  the  streams  in  general.  They  could  not  delay  to  make  a 
careful  survey  of  the  ruins,  or  a  special  study  of  the  localities 
in  which  they  were  found,  further  than  was  required  by  their 
general  plans. 

For  many  years  after  the  War  and  until  very  recently,  the 
Indian  tribes,  especially  the  Apaches  and  branches  of  their 
race,  were  very  hostile.  They  imagined  that  the  withdrawal 
of  the  troops  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was  due  to  their 
own  successful  resistance  and  the  discouragement  of  the 
white  man.  A  long  and  savage  warfare  was  necessary  to 
subdue  them  and  correct  their  mistake.  This  was  carried  on 
under  many  disadvantages.  Arizona  was  reached  only  by 
long  and  difficult  routes,  and  had  no  internal  sources  of 
supply  that  could  be  readily  developed.  Both  agriculture 
and  mining  enterprises  must  wait  for  more  favorable  times. 
When  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  approached  Yuma,  on 
the  Lower  Colorado,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Gila,  this  class 
of  difficulties  began  to  disappear,  the  Indians  had  been  fairly 
disciplined,  and  a  new  era  was  opened  for  the  regions  thickly 
peopled  in  prehistoric  times. 

During  this  quarter  of  a  century  of  American  adventure — 
for  it  can  not  be  called  occupation — the  old  Spanish  accounts 
of  the  ruins  left  by  the  still  unknown  prehistoric  race  have 
36 


562  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

been  confirmed  and  much  enlarged  by  a  great  number  of 
observers.  But  they  must  be  collected  together  to  obtain  all 
the  information  so  gained,  even  in  regard  to  the  various 
localities.  No  one  person  has  made  them  a  principal  study 
or  concentrated  on  the  ruins  of  any  locality  the  prolonged 
and  critical  attention  necessary  to  ascertain  all  the  facts  that 
are,  or  were,  accessible.  Competent  observers  have  been  able 
to  give  the  public  but  a  hasty  passing  glance — the  few  state- 
ments they  could  verify  in  the  brief  time  other  aims  allowed 
them.  Those  who  have  enjoyed  more  ample  opportunities 
have  been  unfamiliar  with  the  carefully  exact  methods  by 
which  modern  science  has  been  so  highly  distinguished  and 
so  successful  in  gaining  valuable  results.  The  ruins,  there- 
fore, still  await  proper  study,  and  may  be  able  to  reveal  far 
more  than  is  now  anticipated.  Taken  in  connection  with  the 
revelations  of  the  mounds  of  the  Great  Valley,  the  ancient 
ruins  in  Central  America,  and  the  history  of  the  Toltecs  and 
Aztecs  of  Mexico,  they  are  of  great  interest,  and  should  be 
carefully  studied  for  additional  information  concerning  the 
prehistoric  civilization  of  America. 

None  of  these  ruins  are  recorded  as  having  been  observed 
on  the  Colorado  River  in  its  lower  course,  and  where  they 
approach  the  Great  Canon  on  the  northern  boundary  of 
Arizona  they  seem,  generally,  to  become  caves  carefully  built 
up  in  front  and  entremely  difficult  of  access.  Few  were 
found  within  a  hundred  miles  or  so  of  the  western  border  of 
the  Territory.  They  abound  in  all  directions  in  the  region 
of  Prescott,  thence  south  to  the  Gila  and  eastward  up  the 
valley  of  that  river,  but  have  not  been  noted  very  far  south  of 
it  in  considerable  numbers,  although  a  few  are  spoken  of  at  a 
long  distance  even  in  Northern  Mexico.  If  the  modern 
Moquis,  Zunis  and  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico — who  now 
build  houses  in  many  respects  similar — be  counted,  the  re- 
gion inhabited  by  stone  house-building  agriculturists  would 
mostly  be  included  in  an  oblong  square  of  about  400  miles  from 


-  o 

O     IN 


< 


OLD    lEKIGATIHG    CANALS — CASA   GEANDE.  563 

east  to  west  and  300  from  north  to  south,  omitting  the  ruins 
of  Chihuahua.  Those  with  whicli  we  are  chiefly  concerned 
lie  mostly  in  the  smaller  space  mentioned — along  the  Gila 
and  west  of  the  higher  plateau  of  the  northeast  section  of 
Arizona. 

It  is  here  that  the  evidences  of  irrigation  are  noted  on  a 
large  scale.  Canals  twenty,  and  even  forty,  miles  long  are 
found.  They  were  built  with  skill,  were  large  and  capable 
of  conveying  vast  supplies  of  water.  Some  have  suggested 
that  the  ancient  civilized  race  which  built  and  cultivated 
here  was  driven  away  by  the  gradual  drying  out  of  the  coun- 
try; but  the  artificial  water  channels  indicate  much  the  same 
condition  then  as  now,  and  we  have  seen  that  the  deep  and 
narrow  cuttings  of  the  streams  point  toward  surface  barren- 
ness from  the  beginning  of  the  present  relative  condition  of 
things,  or  from  the  close  of  the  period  of  special  elevation. 
It  can  not  have  been  much  changed  within  a  few  thousand 
years. 

Some  two  hundred  miles  east  of  Yuma,  and  on  the  south 
of  the  River  Gila,  in  the  midst  of  an  extensive  plain,  are  the 
"  Casa  Grande "  ruins.  Besides  the  one  massive  building 
still  partially  standing,  there  are  evidences  of  former  habita- 
tion for  miles  around.  The  first  observers  speak  of  this 
house  "  as  a  large  edifice,  the  principal  room  being  four 
stories  high."  This  was  surrounded  on  all  the  four  sides 
with  lower  stories,  of  which  the  outer  walls  were  about  five 
and  a  half  feet  thick.  These  walls  were  of  concrete,  or  adobe 
material,  and  not  of  stone  proper.  In  that  dry  region  it 
becomes  very  hard  and  durable.  The  inside  of  these  walls 
was  covered  with  a  smooth  cement.  "  They  resemble  planed 
boards,  and  so  polished  that  they  shine  like  Pueblo  pottery," 
says  the  old  Spanish  observer.  Broken  pottery  made  of  fine 
clay  was  scattered  about.  A  large  canal  encircled  the  city 
and  could  be  traced  twenty  miles  to  where  it  received  water 
from  the  river  to  distribute  over  the  plain  and  perhaps  also 


664  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

serve  as  a  moat  or  defence  for  the  town.  It  was  about  twenty- 
eif^lit  feet  wide  and  eleven  feet  deep. 

This  description  was  given  over  three  hundred  years  ago, 
and  about  three  quarters  of  a  century  before  the  Puritans 
landed  at  Plymouth  Rock,  in  Massachusetts.  The  rest  of  the 
town  was  then  little  better  than  a  heap  of  dust,  and  this  "  Casa 
Grande  " — or  great  house — although  less  complete  now  than 
then,  has  well  withstood  the  ravages  of  the  three  hundred  and 
forty  years.  The  traces  of  other  buildings  are  still  discern- 
ible, as  also  of  the  aqueduct,  and  it  might  well  have  taken 
twice  or  three  times  that  period,  at  the  least,  to  produce  the 
ruin  then  discernible  from  tlie  condition  in  which  they  were 
when  first  abandoned.  Another  account  of  Casa  Grande, 
after  giving  substantially  the  same  statement  in  regard  to 
the  building,  speaks  of  twelve  others  at  some  distance  falling 
into  ruin,  and  of  ceilings  in  the  Casa  Grande,  which,  except 
the  lower,  appeared  to  have  been  burnt.  These  lower  ceil- 
ings forming  the  floor  of  the  second  story  were  "  of  round 
timbers,  smooth  and  not  thick,  which  appeared  to  be  cedar 
or  savin  (pine),  over  them  sticks  of  very  equal  size,  and  a 
cake  of  mortar  and  hard  clay,  making  a  roof  or  ceiling  of 
great  ingenuity."  Ruins  "■  circumscribe  it  two  leagues,  with 
much  earthenware  of  plates  and  pots  of  fine  clay,  painted  of 
many  colors,  and  which  resemble  the  jars  of  Guadalajara,  in 
Spain."  This  writer  thinks  half  the  volume  of  water  in  the 
river  might  be  turned  into  the  main  canal,  twenty-eight  feet 
wide  and  eleven  deep,  to  protect  the  city  as  a  moat,  furnish 
it  water  and  irrigate  the  surrounding  country. 

It  must  have  been  a  numerous,  well-ordered  and  thriving 
people  who  once  made  this  now  desolate  plain  green  and 
lively  by  their  industries.  Its  capacities  are  the  same  still 
and  it  will  soon  recover  more  than  its  ancient  agricultural 
thrift.  Only  stone  implements  have  been  found,  indicating 
a  lower  stage  of  advancement  than  that  of  the  To  1  tecs  and 
Aztecs  of  Mexico  in  the  time  of  Cortez.     No  sculptures  are 


'i'lJii 


;vi* 


11 


EVIDENCES    OF    A    LARGE    POPULATION.  565 

noted,  except  in  pottery,  no  indications  of  the  thousand 
details  which  one  trained  to  close  study  might  have  found. 
Many  of  these  will,  no  doubt,  be  hereafter  obtained,  so  that 
we  may,  to  some  extent,  live  their  lives  over  again  and  write 
a  tolerable  history  of  their  career. 

Tanks  or  reservoirs  are  sometimes  found  in  natural  depres- 
sions which  are  now  dry,  and  the  resources  of  the  soil  were 
evidently  utilized  with  great  effect  to  support  the  large  pop- 
ulation. Sometimes  a  large  canal  divides  into  several  smaller 
ones  and  the  grade  is  always  found  to  be  perfect.  They 
must  have  been  good  engineers,  this  lost  and  forgotten  race. 
Some  pyramidal  structures  have  been  met  with;  some  moun- 
tain tops  have  been  fortified  with  a  wall  enclosing  several 
acres  once  covered  with  buildings.  Fifty  miles  east  of  Casa 
Grande,  along  the  Gila,  extensive  ruins  have  been  noted 
which  led  the  observer  to  estimate  that  at  some  time  100,000 
people  had  lived  there. 

One  apparently  intelligent  hunter  and  prospector,  wander- 
ing on  the  high  Colorado  plateau,  described  the  ruins  of  a 
town  which  he  thought  had  contained  20,000  houses.  It  is 
supposed  that  he  was  mistaken  in  the  location  and  that  he 
may  have  been  unduly  impressed  in  his  surprise  at  finding 
in  a  desolate  region  evidences  of  a  former  large  population, 
as  no  other  report  has  been  made  of  such  an  extensive  series 
of  ruins  with  the  local  circumstances  he  mentions.  He  must 
have  exaggerated.  Being  a  respectable  person,  and  having 
no  interest  in  the  result,  he  could  hardly  have  invented.  But 
ruins  are  very  numerous  indeed,  and  it  would  be  highly  inter- 
esting to  go  over  the  report  of  a  suitable  person  who  should 
take  the  pains  to  find  and  record  them  all  and  have  studied 
the  evidences  of  cultivation  given  by  each  locality. 

An  isolated  community,  employing  irrigation  on  a  large 
scale  in  this  extremely  fertile  soil  and  under  a  semi-tropical 
sun,  would  have  very  little  trouble  in  making  a  few  thousand 
acres   furnish   food   for  many  tens  of  thousands  of  people. 


566  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

They  could  have  liad  little  of  the  trade  and  interchange, of 
modern  nations,  even  of  Mexico  and  Peru  before  the  appear- 
ance of  Europeans.  Their  separation  from  other  habitable 
regions  by  the  mountains  and  deserts  and  hostile  savages  that 
have  so  much  impeded  settlement  there  in  the  last  three  cen- 
turies decides  that. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  they  were  a  branch  of  the  fugi- 
tive Mound  Builders  who  fled  here  while  the  rest  found  their 
way  to  Mexico,  to  establish  there  the  Toltec  empire.  We 
have  seen,  however,  that  the  Mounds  reveal  an  artistic  tend- 
ency that  might  well  have  developed  into  the  artistic  creations 
found  around  Lake  Tezcuco,  in  the  Mexican  valley,  by  Cor- 
tez;  but,  so  far  as  has  been  reported,  it  has  been  found  so 
wanting  in  the  Arizona  ruins  as  to  furnish  an  almost  decisive 
presumption  against  derivation  from  the  skillful  carvers  in 
stone  of  the  Mounds. 

It  has  also  been  thought  by  many  that  these  civilized 
builders  and  agriculturists  of  the  desert  were  Aztecs,  and  that 
this  was  the  original  home  of  that  race.  It  has  been  answered 
with  much  apparent  force,  that  the  style  of  these  buildings, 
and  the  apparently  national  organization  involved  in  towns  so 
large  and  a  population  so  compact,  would  not  at  all  harmon- 
ize with  what  we  know  of  the  Aztecs,  who  were  tribal  and  not 
national,  or  even  federal,  in  their  organization.  That  fierce, 
ambitious  and  restless  race  could  not  well  have  spent  cen- 
turies of  the  quiet,  tedious  industry  requisite  to  the  production 
of  these  isolated  ruins,  and  then  have  suddenly  left  them  to 
absolute  decay  while  strong  enough  to  conquer  the  civilized 
Toltecs.  They  rather  appear  to  have  adopted  civilization 
suddenly,  to  have  engrafted  it  on  their  native  wildness  and 
fierceness,  than  to  have  attained  it  by  development,  as  did 
the  Toltecs.  They  were  shrewd  and  intelligent  enough  to  ap- 
preciate it  and  employ  it  as  an  engine  of  power  and  an  in- 
strument of  their  vaulting  ambition;  for  they  were  a  race  of 
conquerors.     Very  few  examples  are  found  in  history  of  races 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE     PEEHISTORIC    AEIZONIANS.  567 

wliicli  have  slowly  and  painfully  emerged  from  primitive 
barbarity  to  a  considerable  degree  of  civil-ization,  and  then 
have  turned  conquerors  from  the  original  impulses  of  their 
own  nature.  It  is  fresh,  wild,  young  blood,  or  that  trained 
by  and  endowed  with  the  intelligence  of  an  adopted  civiliza- 
tion that  has  rushed  into  the  field  of  conquest. 

It  seems  more  likely  that  these  civilized  prehistoric  Arizo- 
nians  were  more  nearly  contemporaries  of  the  Mound  Build- 
ers, an  otfshoot  from  the  same  original  stock,  which  planted 
nationalities  with  a  tendency  to  civilization  from  Chili  to  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  bringing  maize  from  their  southern 
birthplace  with  tobacco  and  other  vegetables  which — espe-- 
cially  the  first — became  the  base,  or  instrument,  of  their  civil- 
ization. Squier  has  found,  on  the  northern  Pacific  coast  of 
South  America,  above  Peru,  similar  ruins  of  races  older  than 
the  Peruvians;  and  the  civilized  nations  of  Central  America, 
of  the  time  of  Cortez,  were  surrounded  by  the  ruins  of  vast 
and  elaborate  structures  and  once  populous  cities  of  which 
they  possessed  no  history. 

It  seems  more  probable  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Aztecs 
may  have  exterminated  the  nation  of  the  plateau,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  other  fierce  mountain  tribes,  and  perhaps  have, 
acquired  some  hints  and  tendencies  which  rendered  them  more 
capable  of  appreciating  Toltec  culture  when  they  came  in 
contact  with  it.  The  Moquis,  the  Zunis,  and  the  Pueblos  of 
the  eastern  border  of  the  plateau  are  thought  to  indicate  a 
derivation  from  Aztec  stock,  or  subjugation  and  partial  civil- 
ization by  the  Aztecs  in  their  more  improved  periods.  All 
the  Aztec  legends  which  impressed  and  excited  the  early 
Spaniards  appear  to  have  had  reference  to  New  Mexico  and 
the  regions  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Gila  and  other  south- 
eastern branches  of  the  Colorado.  Tlie  "  Seven  cities  of 
Cibola"  were  there,  and  New  Mexico  gave  evidence  of  very 
ancient  mining,  as  also,  it  is  aflirmed,  of  eftorts  to  conceal  the 
traces  of  it. 


568 


THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 


The  Mountain  Moquis,  Zunis  and  Pueblos  built  their  houses 
of  stone  and  cultivated  the  soil.  Their  arts  and  habits  seem 
to  have  been  acquired  from  Mexico,  not  from  Toltecs  but 
Aztecs.  The}"  do  not  seem  to  have  shared  the  aggressive 
character  of  the  Aztecs,  but  to  have  been  sufficiently  resolved 
to  beat  off  invaders.  If  they  were  ever  under  Aztec  rule  it 
had  been  cast  off.  They  made  a  determined  stand  against 
the  Spanish  invasion  and  finally  drove  it  out;  and  vphen  the 
Eio  Grande  Valley  became  again  a  Mexican  Province  they 
still  remained  independent.  Many  ruins  of  a  remarkable 
character  are  found  clinsfins:  to  the  face  of  almost  inaccessi- 
ble  clefts  in  the  canons  of  northwestern  New  Mexico  and 
southwestern  Colorado,  implying  peril  of  attack  in  far  dis- 
tant times  and  resolute  defence. 

It  is  as  yet  uncertain  whether  these  modern  tribes  who 
have  so  long  refused  to  recognize  the  rights  of  conquest,  who 
have  let  others  alone  and  determined  to  be  let  alone,  can  be 
shown  to  have  the  plain  relationship  of  descent  from  the 
town  builders  and  irrigators  of  the  lower  Gila  and  the  west- 
ern plateaus  of  Arizona.  Thorough  investigation  will  very 
likely  make  it  clear.  It  seems  to  have  been  rather  generally 
assumed  that  such  was  the  case  because  both  have  been  build- 
ers of  fortress-like  houses  each  of  which  seems  constructed 
to  contain  a  considerable  community  in  itself.  But  the  study 
has,  as  yet,  been  comparatively  superficial  and  limited.  Such 
facts  as  are  now  obtainable  are  not  decisive,  and  the  subject 
remains,  for  the  present,  in  the  form  of  theory.  Of  theories 
there  are  almost  as  many  as  writers.  We  have  assigned  above 
the  reasons  for  that  which  seems  the  most  consonant  with  the 
facts  as  far  as  now  investigated. 

Many  wonderful  events  and  series  of  histories  have  been 
enacted  in  prehistoric  America  which  are  being  slowly  drawn 
into  the  light  and  minutely  investigated.  A  very  fair  degree 
of  accuracy  and  detail  is  quite  certain  to  be  reached  sooner 
or  later. 


Human   intelligence  has  a  singular 


gift  at  using 


HOW    THE    SECRETS    OF    THE    PAST    AKE    DISCOVERED.        569 

the  many  various  instruments  of  nature  so  shrewdly  as  to 
successfully  fling  back  a  defiance  and  flank  physical,  and  even 
mental,  impossibilities.  The  inconceivable  distance  of  the 
sun,  for  instance,  can  not  be  directly  overcome,  but  a  telescope 
has  the  eflect  of  bringing  it  nearer,  and  the  solar  spectrum 
analyzes  its  constituents  by  its  beams  of  light.  With  equal 
ingenuity  man  conquers  time  and  lays  bare  the  interesting 
secrets  of  the  past,  or  predicts  the  future. 

In  Europe  and  Asia  the  caves,  the  lakes,  the  cairns,  or 
mounds,  and  a  thousand  other  receptacles  of  the  relics  of 
past  human  action,  are  gradually  furnishing  the  details  of  the 
career  of  prehistoric  man.  Where  these  fail,  comparative 
philology,  or  a  comparison  of  languages,  zoology,  botany, 
chemistry,  geology  and  many  other  branches  of  science 
lend  assistance.  It  is  surprising  how  much  has  been  learned 
and  carefully  proved  by  the  use  of  all  these  clews  during 
the  last  forty  years.  As  the  American  continent  is  less  com- 
plex in  its  physical  features  than  the  Old  World,  so  the  past 
career  of  its  human  inhabitants  will  undoubtedly  be  found 
more  simple  and  easier  to  follow  when  its  general  meaning 
and  course  is  definitely  ascertained.  Arizona  will  probably 
take  high  rank  as  a  field  of  archeeological  inquiry — perhaps 
next  after  Peru  and  Central  America.  It  is  likely  to  be  well 
studied,  too.  Nowhere  in  the  world  are  the  processes  of  rock 
formation  better  illustrated;  there  is  no  better  field  for  the 
broad  generalizations  of  the  geologist.  The  deep  cuttings 
of  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado,  the  barrenness  and  wide 
extent  of  plateaus  of  difterent  elevation  and  material,  render 
it  a  singularly  inviting  field  of  study  for  the  man  of  science. 
Its  traces  of  ancient  human  occupation  will,  therefore,  the 
more  certainly  receive  attention. 

Certain  changes  of  construction  in  the  ruins  of  different  lo- 
calities in  Central  Arizona — those  of  the  GilaHiver,  and  near  it, 
from  those  found  northward  toward  the  Colorado  River — seem 
to  indicate  greater  need  of  defence  as  the  adv^mce  northward 


570 


THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 


was  made.  Some  of  the  more  southern  ruins  have  the  first 
or  ground  story  completely  closed  and  the  walls  of  great 
strength  and  thickness,  as  in  the  Moqui  dwellings  of  the 
present  day  and  the  ruins,  generally,  of  the  canons  of  the 
more  eastern  branches  of  the  Colorado.  Yet  this  feature  is 
not  much  remarked  near  the  Gila.  Blocks  of  mortar  or  con- 
crete are  there  chiefly  used  for  walls.  In  the  middle  region 
advancing  north  stone  was  often  used  between  these,  and 
further  on  the  use  of  stone  appeared  to  predominate  until  it 
became  the  exclusive  material  for  the  body  of  the  walls  and 
was  sometimes  squared,  or  cut  into  regular  shape. 

Also,  as  the  higher  regions  were  approached  the  more  de- 
fensible localities  were  fortified.  Sometimes  the  level  top  of 
a  mountain  was  surrounded  with  a  high,  strong  wall  ten  feet 
thick,  the  approach  to  the  elevated  fortress  being  sometimes 
made  by  an  artificial  causeway  built  solidly  and  with  engi- 
neering skill.  The  ruins  north  become  more  scattered,  mas- 
sive and  fortress-like.  Cave  dwellings,  faced  up  in  front  to 
look  like  the  natural  rock,  are  found  in  the  higher,  fortified 
regions  and  are  continued  beyond  the  area  of  dwellings  and 
forts  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  Grand  Canon.  There  are 
also  indications  that  the  last  inhabitants  of  the  dwellings  and 
fortresses  were  slain  or  expelled  by  force  and  the  dwellings 
left  in  a  ruinous  state.  Three  skeletons,  with  an  olla  or  water 
jar  near  them,  were  found  inside  a  building  in  one  of  these 
fortified  places.  They  were  covered  with  many  feet  of  earth 
and  stone,  the  ruins  of  the  house,  one  of  them  having  been 
evidently  very  tall — at  least  seven  feet. 

These  facts  have  suggested  to  some  the  conclusion  that  a 
sudden  and  powerful  attack  was  made  from  the  south  which 
destroyed  the  great  towns  and  laid  waste  the  wide-cultivated 
areas  on  and  near  the  Gila.  The  remnant  not  slain  retreated 
northward,  fighting,  and  long  maintained  a  vigorous  defence 
from  their  fortresses  in  the  mountainous  regions,  but  finally 
were  reduced  tc#6uch  extremity  as  to  be  obliged  to  conceal 


HOW  THE  lEEIGATOES  PROBABLY  PEKISHED.       571 

themselves  in  caves,  where  they  built  cisterns  to  hold  a  store 
of  water  and  probably  collected  supplies  of  food  to  last  them 
through  seasons  of  danger.  The  evidences  of  destruction  by 
fire  of  all  or  most  that  would  burn,  in  many  ruined  houses, 
are  frequent  and  seem  to  countenance  such  a  supposition,  or  at 
least  the  termination  of  the  occupation  by  violence.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Aztecs  had  their  ancient 
seat  farther  south  and  assisted  in  destroying  this  industrious 
people — possibly  lighting  the  torch  of  their  own  civilization 
at  the  blazing  ruins  they  made;  or  they  may  have  learned 
their  first  lessons  in  culture  from  the  captives  they  redi;ced 
to  slavery  and  carried  away.  Many  a  similar  history  has 
been  recorded  in  the  Old  World. 

It  seems  not  unlikely  that  thousands  of  years  were  em- 
ployed here  in  building  up  an  original  civilization,  from  a 
feeble  South  American  germ,  to  such  development  as  was 
possible  with  the  cumbrous  and  imperfect  instruments  of  the 
Stone  Age.  It  was  apparently  isolated  from  other  centers  of 
progress,  not  sharing  in  the  inter-communication  that  ex- 
isted between  Central  America  and  Mexico,  pi'obably  to  the 
great  advantage  of  both  those  countries.  Like  the  Mound 
Builder  communities,  it  was  long  undisturbed,  and  acquired 
much  agricultural  skill;  then,  threatened  by  bold  and  daring 
mountain  tribes,  they  were  led  to  precaution  in  building  to 
avoid  surprise,  more  care  being  requisite  on  the  northern  bor- 
der; and  finally,  a  strong  combined  attack  of  the  tribes  from 
the  plateau  of  Mexico  on  the  south  was  made  suddenly  and 
with  a  persistent  determination  before  unknown  to  their  ex- 
perience, ending  with  the  destruction  of  the  larger  towns.  A 
long  struggle  toward  the  north  is  evident,  and  by  a  foe  so  de- 
termined that  we  may  suppose  it  to  have  been  of  the  vigor- 
ous Aztec  stock.  This  ended  also  in  ruin  to  house,  fortress 
and  cultivated  field,  the  last  feeble  remnant  hiding  in  caves 
while  struggling  with  some  local  enemy  like  the  modern 
Apaches,  but  finally  perishing  altogether,  and  carrying  to  the 


572  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

grave  all  memory  of  their  once  prosperous  and  industrious 
race. 

It  is  possible  that  a  body  of  fugitives  passed  eastward  to 
the  high  watershed  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  built  the  clifl' 
houses  found  by  Major  Powell,  and  transmitted  their  race  to 
modern  times  through  the  semi-civilized  communities  still 
remaining  there  as  a  small  remnant.  Careful  study  and 
comparison  may  be  able  to  decide;  but  what  is  now  known 
seems  to  favor  the  probability  that  the  Arizonians  of  the 
west,  who  irrigated  with  the  care  and  skill  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  were  a  very  old  race;  that  the  Pueblos,  Moquis, 
and  Zunis  are  comparatively  young;  and  that  their  civiliza- 
tion was,  in  some  way,  derived  from  or  connected  with  that 
of  the  comparatively  modern  Aztecs. 

Arizona  embraces  a  surface  of  about  72,000,000  acres,  or 
113,916  square  miles.  Of  this  it  seems  barely  possible  that 
one-fourth  may  be  used  for  agriculture  finally,  although  not 
quite  3,000,000  acres  are,  at  present,  so  well  supplied  with 
water  from  streams  and  rain-fall  as  to  be  readily  available  for 
crops  at  moderate  expense.  Some  of  the  old  canals  and  res- 
ervoirs may  be  utilized  hereafter;  but  the  impression  seems 
to  have  been  made  on  the  minds  of  the  hasty  explorers  (so 
far  as  they  have  given  public  expression  to  it),  that  the  rivers 
have  worn  down  considerably  below  the  levels  that  existed 
when  these  canals  were  made  and  used.  If  this  proves  to  be 
true  it  probably  indicates  the  long  period  that  has  passed 
since  that  ancient  use.  This  impression  is,  possibly,  more  or 
less  erroneous.  One  observer,  noting  a  large  canal  of  great 
length  running  many  miles  and  then  dividing  into  three 
branches,  thought  that  the  stream  must  have  shrunk  since 
the  canal  was  built,  its  capacity  seeming  too  large  for  the 
stream,  which  had,  yet,  many  canals  below.  But  this  obser- 
vation— as  also  many  others — was  made  in  haste,  and  in 
danger  from  the  fierce  Apaches. 

Extensive  surfaces,  aggregating  many  millions  of  acres — 


THE    SOUKCES    OF    WATEK    AND    RAIN-FAI.L.  573 

some  have  suggested  fifteen  or  more — may  be  fertilized  from 
wells.  The  soil  is  porous  and  readily  receives  and  holds  the 
rain-fall,  and  sometimes  the  contents  of  running  streams. 
Wells  of  moderate  depth,  with  wind  mills,  would  suffice  for 
the  recovery  of  large  tracts  now  useless,  and  artesian  wells, 
drawing  on  lower  and  larger  supplies,  would  fertilize  large 
regions — how  large  can  not  now  be  estimated. 

There  is  considerable  rain-fall  in  the  Territory,  which  is 
mostly  derived  from  the  Gulf  of  California.  The  variation 
in  the  elevation  of  the  plateaus  and  the  direction  of  the 
numerous  mountain  chains,  however,  makes  a  great  difference 
in  the  average  precipitation  of  different  localities.  The  vari- 
ation in  rain-fall  is  said  to  be  from  half  an  inch  to  thirty-two 
inches;  and  extensive  areas  have  an  average  annual  rain-fall 
of  twenty  and  twenty-four  inches.  This  is  not  all  in  the 
winter,  as  in  California.  There  are  two  rainy  seasons  in  the 
year  in  Arizona,  and,  although  they  can  rarely  be  depended 
on  for  all  the  moisture  required  by  growing  crops,  they 
greatly  relieve  the  biirden  of  irrigation. 

The  plateau  on  which  Prescott  is  situated,  near  the  center 
of  the  Territory,  is  about  4,000  feet  in  elevation  and  receives 
annually  twenty  to  twenty-seven  inches  of  rain-fall.  It  is, 
still,  a  dry  climate  and  evaporation  is  rapid,  but  it  produces 
much  most  valuable  pasturage,  many  thousand  square  miles 
of  good  timber  on  the  mountains,  and  a  general  supply  of 
firewood  much  more  ample  than  is  found  in  many  parts  of 
the  Pacific  Slope.  With  several  million  acres  under  cultiva- 
tion in  the  lower  regions  the  surface  supply  of  water  would 
probably  increase,  as  in  Utah.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the 
extensive  cultivation  of  the  prehistoric  inhabitants  had  the 
effect  to  increase  the  amount  of  moisture  and  precipitation 
and  that  the  laying  waste  of  their  fields  produced  the  evi- 
dences of  increasing  dryness  that  have  been  frquently  com- 
mented on. 

Coal  is  said  to  underlie  an  extensive  area  and  to  be  very 


574 


THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 


thick  and  valuable  in  places.  It  has  been  estimated  by  some 
that  the  precious  metals  will  be  found  here  in  unrivaled  rich- 
ness of  deposits  and  ease  of  mining  and  separation.  The 
region  of  Prescott  is  proving  extremely  profitable  for  this 
enterprise,  and  the  southern  border,  near  Tucson,  was  found 
to  yield  a  purity  and  quantity  of  metal  seldom  equaled  in 
any  part  of  the  world  by  the  missionaries  of  that  region 
if  their  accounts  are  to  be  believed. 

Other  valuable  metals,  especially  copper,  are  found  in  large 
quantity,  and  the  Territory  is  declared  to  be  peculiarly  rich 
in  rare  animals  and  plants.  There  is,  therefore,  good  reason 
why,  at  the  beginning  of  1880,  so  many  large  railroad  enter- 
prises were  aiming  for  this  region  and  proposing  to  make 
use  of  the  best  and  smoothest  route  across  the  continent 
which  it  provides.  By  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Arizona  is  sure  to  be  far  advanced  in  development  and  not 
the  least  prosperous  and  rich  among  the  new  states  of  the 
Pacific  Slope.  It  will  always  show  so  much  bare  rock,  and 
so  much  mesa,  or  elevated  plain,  that  can  not  be  prevented 
from  parching  up  under  the  hot  sun,  as  to  more  or  less  re- 
semble a  desert  in  many  parts.  Yet  it  has  really  extensive 
forests,  a  vast  amount  of  pasture  for  stock  where  there  is  not 
water  enough  for  agriculture,  and  many  meadows  charming 
the  eye  with  herbage  and  fiowers. 

Cultivation  to  the  extent  now  practicable  and  easy  will 
make  a  great  difiference.  Many  of  the  most  fertile  plains, 
abounding  with  traces  of  the  prehistoric  cultivators,  capable 
of  rivaling  in  amount  of  choice  productions  any  other  region 
in  the  world,  and  of  being  made  to  look  a  very  paradise,  are 
now  covered  with  unsightly  plants  when  producing  anything 
at  all.  The  air  is  overheated  by  this  bare  and  parched  surface ; 
it  eagerly  draws  away  all  the  surface  moisture  which  rises  to 
be  wafted  by  the  winds  to  the  cool  mountain  tops  or  sides. 
Vegetation  and  trees  produced  by  irrigation  will  cool  the 
present  hot  air,  yield  to   it  more  moisture,  produce  more 


GKEAT    CHANGES    WILL    BE    MADE    BY    CULTIVATION.        575 

favorable  electric  conditions  and  more  frequent  local  showers. 
In  short,  all  the  impressive  and  charming  changes  made  in 
the  Great  Salt  Lake  Valley  and  Southern  California  will,  by 
and  by,  render  Arizona  one  of  the  most  attractive  regions  in 
the  Republic. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   GREAT     DIVIDE — THE     PRINCIPAL    PLATEAU     OF     THE     ROCKT 

MOUNTAINS. 

The  parts  of  California,  Oregon  and  Washington  now  most 
favored  and  held  to  be  the  best  lie  beyond  the  western  range 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This  second  range  is  called  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  in  California,  or  along  its  southern  course, 
and  the  Cascade  Range,  further  north.  The  Pacific  Coast 
region,  west  of  this  range,  may  be  generally  stated  at  150,000 
square  miles.  It  has  many  and  rare  advantages.  East  of 
this  range  lie  Arizona,  Nevada,  Utah,  Idaho,  and  parts  of 
California,  Oregon  and  "Washington.  Arizona,  Utah  and 
Idaho  cover  much  of  the  western  or  interior  slope  of  the 
Great  Divide,  or  Summit  Range,  of  the  Rocky  Mountains — 
called  by  the  Spaniards  the  "Sierra  Madre,"  or  Mother 
Range. 

This  is  a  very  suggestive  and  not  unsuitable  name  for  such 
a  massive  elevation.  It  consists,  in  its  great  outlines,  of  a 
high  plateau,  which,  on  the  whole,  slopes  gradually  to  the 
depression  on  the  west  and  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  on  the 
east.  From  the  general  plateau  rise  irregular  lines  of  high 
peaks  and  elevated  masses  of  rock  and  the  height  of  land 
which  turns  the  drainage  toward  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific. 
East  of  this  summit  line  are  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri, 
the  western  branches  of  the  lower  Mississippi  and  of  the  Rio 
Grande;  west  of  it,  down  southwest  and  northwest  into  the 
great  interior  basins  the  numerous  branches  of  the  Colorado 
and  Columbia  flow  and  emerge  from  them  to  pour  their 
waters  into  the  Pacific. 

This  plateau  is  very  extensive,  much  broken  and  diversified 
by  great  irregularities,  and,  viewed  by  localities,  often  seems 

576 


GENERAL  FEATURES  OF  THE  HIGH  PLATEAU.      577 

to  lose  the  cliaracter  of  a  plateau  altogether.  Vast  gorges, 
high  ranges  of  mountains,  or  precipitous  descents  to  lower 
ground  alternate  with  deep  basins,  or  parks,  as  they  have 
been  called,  long  valleys  of  great  width — when  estimated 
from  the  general  elevation  on  either  side — or  rolling  slopes 
which  continue  the  descent  through  hundreds  of  miles  in  one 
direction  so  gradually  as  to  render  it  insensible  to  the  trav- 
eler. Yet  these  are  but  accidents  and  variations  from  a  vast 
and  grand  iinity.  A  general  plateau  remains  as  a  base  for 
innumerable  mountain  elevations,  as  the  site  of  wide,  often 
grassy,  plains,  of  lakes  and  inclosed  basins,  and  as  the  general 
elevated  divide  between  Atlantic  and  Pacific  drainajj-e. 

Since  this  general  region  has  many  peculiarities  and  im- 
portant features  of  its  own,  is  becoming  tlie  subject  of  great 
interest  to  the  American  people,  the  scene  of  various  and 
most  profitable  activities,  has,  already,  one  organized  state 
and  will  soon  have  several  more,  a  chapter  is  here  devoted  to 
the  consideration  of  it. 

Arizona  is  on  the  western  side  of  this  Divide,  and  descends 
to  the  southwest  in  a  succession  of  plateaus  or  mesas,  which, 
if  they  do  not,  locally  viewed,  appear  so,  are  yet  so  many 
vast  graduated  steps  from  the  borders  of  Colorado  and  New 
Mexico  to  the  mouth  of  the  Gila.  This  last  named  river 
flows  along  a  depression  more  gradual  in  its  western  descent 
than  elsewliere,  the  canon  M'here  it  breaks  through  the  bar- 
rier of  the  Mogollon  Mountains  from  the  high  central  plateau 
of  New  Mexico  being  near  the  western  boundary  of  that 
Territory,  and  of  moderate  size  and  depth  compared  with  the 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado. 

Montana  occupies  a  position  in  some  respects  similar  as  to 
its  eastern  section,  yet  marked  by  numerous  strong  contrasts. 
Western  Montana  sits  astride  of  the  great  mountain  vertebra 
of  the  continent,  its  plateau  features  are  not  as  distinct,  not 
as  high,  nor  is  the  climate  as  arid.  Its  general  appearance 
is,  therefore,  strikingly  different  although  the  fact  is  less  in 
37 


578  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

reality  than  it  seems.  The  extensive  surface-wearing  of  the- 
Ice  Floe,  peculiar  to  the  continent  east  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, rounded  many  of  its  mountain  chains,  removed  much 
of  the  ragged  roughness  and  barrenness  that  is  so  conspicu- 
ous in  Arizona,  and  its  climate  being  less  hot  and  drying,  it 
is  more  extensively  and  profusely  covered  with  grasses.  At 
the  same  time  the  smoothing  agencies  of  the  Glacial  Epoch 
gave  its  eastward  descent  more  the  character  of  a  slope  than 
is  seen  at  the  southwest  in  Arizona  where  no  such  general 
agencies  operated. 

Montana  is  stated  to  have,  out  of  its  93,000,000  acres  of 
surface,  something  more  than  one-sixth,  or  16,000,000  acres, 
of  agricultural  land.  It  is  possible  that  Arizona,  with  20,- 
000,000  less  acres,  may  jjrove  to  have  quite  as  much  land  that 
may  finally  be  cultivated,  although  that  point  is  not  yet  fully 
tested.  Montana  lias  14,000,000  acres  of  timber — the  most 
of  it  being  of  great  value — and  38,000,000  acres  of  grazing 
land  unsuitable  for  the  plow.  Arizona  appears  to  be  le^s 
fortunate  in  these  respects  now,  although  the  cooling  and 
moistening  of  the  atmosphere  by  cultivation  may  somewhat 
equalize  the  present  diiference  in  the  course  of  years. 

Montana  is  traversed  by  the  great  river  system  of  the  Mis- 
souri, the  Yellowstone  being  a  kind  of  parallel  to  the  Gila. 
There  are  many  romantic  canons,  though  all  are  moderate  in 
length  and  depth  compared  with  the  Grand  Canon  of  the 
Colorado.  Its  natural  marvels,  if  less  inagniiicent  in  com- 
pass, are  more  within  the  range  of  vision,  and  more  fully 
appreciated  because  more  easily  measured  by  the  senses. 
They  do  not  so  absolutely  overpower  the  mind  and  beget  the 
feeling  that  so  much  has  escaped  its  comprehension  that  the 
effort  at  expression  is  useless;  The  Falls  of  the  Yellowstone 
in  the  National  Park  are  some  200  feet  wide  and  nearly  three 
times  the  height  of  Niagara.  The  smaller  mass  of  water, 
falling  the  greater  distance,  makes  a  much  stronger  impres- 
sion in  proportion.      Montana   has  natural  wonders  which 


THE    FINE    FEATURES    OF   MONTANA.  579 

produce  vivid,  and  even  ineffaceable,  impressions.  They  do 
not  stupefy  the  mind  with  magnitudes  for  which  it  can  find 
no  adequate  measure. 

Eastern  Montana  is  a  part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  or  of 
the  "Plains;"  the  middle  third  and  the  western  fifth  or 
sixth  of  its  area  are  more  fully  representative  of  the  high 
plateau;  between  these  last  two  is  the  Summit  Range  of  peaks 
forming  the  separating  watershed  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Columbia.  Local  ranges  of  elevation  are  even  more  numer- 
ous than  in  Arizona,  bnt  more  often  toned  down  into  grassy 
or  wooded  swells,  pleasant  to  see  in  massive  outline  and  val- 
uable ranges  for  stock.  Delightful  valleys  and  fertile 
"benches,"  or  stair-like,  yet  modified  slopes  lie,  usually, 
between.  But  it  is  not  all  of  this  subdued  character.  Bare 
rock  and  ragged  outline  are  predominant  features  in  many 
landscapes,  especially  ahjng  the  streams  where  deep  cuttings 
have  been  made  and  in  the  western  third  of  the  territory. 

It  is  aflSrmed  that  Montana  has  as  much  timber  as  Michi- 
gan. It  grows  only  on  the  heights,  chiefly  clothing  the 
mountain  sides.  This,  with  the  herbage  over  so  much  of  the 
surface,  prevents  the  intense  heating  of  the  lower  regions  of 
the  air,  and  the  rain-fall  is  considerable — from  12  to  20  inches 
annually,  and  often  heavy  falls  of  snow  in  the  mountains.  It 
is  not  sufficient  for  agriculture  without  irrigation,  Ijut  water 
for  that  is  usually  abundant  where  it  is  desirable  so  to  use 
it.  The  climate  is  deeply  modified  by  vicinity  to  the  Pacific. 
The  warm  winds  from  the  Japan  Current,  the  heated  equa- 
torial waters  of  that  ocean,  or  both,  pass  quite  over  the  moun- 
tains and,  tliouojh  so  far  north,  ijive  it  the  average  vearlv  tem- 
perature  of  regions  farther  east  far  south  of  its  latitude.  A 
M-arm  wind  called  the  '"Chinook" — because  supposed  to  blow 
from  the  coasts  where  Indians  bearing  that  appellation  live — 
often  blows  in  the  midst  of  winter,  suddenly  removing  the 
snow  and  giving  the  people  a  warm  air  bath  in  the  highest 
degree  pleasurable. 


580  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

The  soil  has  the  large  per  cent  of  salts  useful  to  vegetable 
growtli  common  to  volcanic  regions,  and  genei'ally  present  on 
the  entire  Pacific  Slope.  It  is,  therefore,  of  somewhat  more 
than  average  quality.  The  native  grasses  are  remarkably  nu- 
tritious, retaining  their  valuable  qualities  after  they  are  dried 
on  the  ground.  They  are  so  perfectly  cured,  nourishing  and 
abundant  that  cattle  seldom  require  supplies  to  be  stored  for 
the  winter,  grazing  on  them  the  year  round.  It  is  stated 
tliat  40,000  square  miles  of  valley  and  bench  lands  lie  below 
the  height  of  .3,000  feet  above  the  sea,  in  the  whole  Territory, 
and  the  more  elevated  western  parts  are  tempered  by  the 
warm  breath  of  the  Pacific,  so  that  this  plateau  is,  on  the 
whole,  a  most  promising  grain  and  fruit  region.  But  for 
stock  raising  and  dair^nng  it  has  special  adaptations  of  the 
most  decided  character. 

Its  mineral  wealth  has  made  it  distinguished,  even  among 
El  Dorados  so  famous  as  California,  in  its  later  years,  Nevada 
and  Colorado.  It  was  stated  in  1879  to  have  yielded  $150,- 
000,000  of  precious  metals  in  seventeen  years  from  placer  and 
quartz  mines.  Tliis  was  obtained  under  serious  difficulties  from 
the  great  distance  to  be  traversed  even  after  leaving  the  head  of 
navigation  at  Ft.  Benton,  itself  more  than  a  thousand  miles 
by  steamboat  from  the  nearest  connection  with  the  railroad 
system  of  the  country — a  less  distance  than  seventeen  or 
eighteen  hundred  miles  having  been  enjoyed  but  a  few 
years.  The  central  parts  of  the  western  section  south  of  Ft. 
Benton,  where  mining  was  cliiefly  pursued,  were  about  500 
miles  from  the  Pacific  railroad  after  that  was  built.  With 
such  distances  and  the  great  costs  involved  in  traversing  them 
and  transporting  material  and  supplies,  the  progress  inade  was 
significant.  Mining  was  largely  confined  to  collecting  the 
stores  of  free  gold  found  in  the  loose  earth  of  the  gulches. 
The  abundance  of  this  argues  great  richness  in  the  rocks  from 
which  they  were  derived,  and  when  all  the  facilities  of  devel- 
oping these  hidden  stores  of  wealth  enjoyed  by  more  acces- 


■/."■ 


AGEICULTUEAL    ADVANTAGES    OF    MONTANA.  581 

eible  mining  regions  are  obtained,  Montana  is  expected  to 
prove  one  of  tiie  richer  mining  localities  of  the  high  plateau. 

Meanwhile  other  resources  and  adaptations  were  studied  to 
provide  for  the  support  of  the  slowly  gathering  population, 
and  it  was  found  tliat  stock  raising  and  dairying  were  great 
specialties,  and  that  there  was,  perhaps,  as  much  good  farm- 
ing land  as  in  the  great  and  prosperous  State  of  Ohio,  with 
much  more  ])roductive  value  on  equal  areas,  and  a  climate 
even  more  airreeable.  If  the  altitude  and  more  northern  lat- 
itude  produced  a  lower  thermometer  for  some  parts  of  the 
year,  and  for  special  years,  the  greater  dryness  and  purity  of 
the  air  more  than  oifset  those  jioints.  It  lias,  then,  especial 
attractiveness  to  the  emigrant  tVcmi  the  east  or  from  Europe. 
From  the  southern  boundary  of  Montana  the  great  plateau 
rises  in  average  lieight,  Wyoming  being  2,500  feet  higher,  and 
Colorado  more  than  3,000.  This  is  the  mean  lieiglit  as  esti- 
mated by  official  surveys  under  direction  of  the  Government. 
Montana  enjoys  more  fully  than  Wyoming  the  iniluence  of 
warm  Pacitic  winds,  and  this,  with  its  comparatively  moder- 
ate elevation  above  sea  level,  bestows  on  it  a  do(ible  advan- 
tage. 

Here,  in  times  reacliing  far  back  into  the  prehistoric  ages,  tlie 
Indian  tribes  lived  and  multiplied.  Its  nourisliing  grasses, 
curing  so  as  to  be  available  for  grazing  the  year  round,  made 
it  attractive  also  to  the  butfalo,  or  bison,  the  favorite  food 
of  the  wild  hunter.  A  healthy,  in\igorating  climate  and  the 
strenuous  exercise  of  the  chase  produced  bold,  hardy,  war-like 
tribes.  As  they  multiplied  and  fought  the  weaker  were  thrust 
out  to  wander  further  south  and  east  into  less  favored  regions. 
They  followed  the  butfalo  in  his  wanderings  over  the  plains, 
and  perhaps  an  acquired  preference  for  this  large  game  long 
prevented  tiiem  from  crossing  the  Mississippi  and  disturbing 
the  Mound  Builders;  while  their  presence  on  the  plains  may 
have  been  the  reason  why  that  busy  race  did  not  ascend  the 
Missouri  to  any  great  distance.    The  bufialo  naturally  ranged 


682  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

southward  over  the  grassy  plateau  in  Wyoming  and  Colorado, 
especially  during  the  warmer  months,  and  while  there  were 
no  deep  snows  to  make  grazing  impossible.  This  long  delay 
of  the  mountain  tribes  in  pushing  eastward,  far  to  the  south 
over  the  higher  plateau,  and  among  the  loftier  mountains, 
gave  the  Mound  Builders  and  the  Arizona  agricultural  races 
the  long,  undisturbed  period  of  gradual  gi-owth  they  evidently 
required  and  plainly  had,  and  the  increase  of  these  warrior 
tribes  who  were,  then  as  now,  incapable  of  appreciating  any 
approach  to  civilization  became  the  gi'owing  danger  which 
possibly  led  to  fortifying  in  either  case. 

Tliat  danger  may  have  sprung  from  the  northeast  in  both 
cases.  Vigorous  tribes,  or  families  afterwards  becoming 
tribes,  may  have  wandered  across  the  Strait  between  the  Great 
Lakes,  or  around  Lake  Superior,  and  have  grown  strong  and 
fierce  near  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  and,  by  a  long  series  of 
attacks  on  the  Ohio  Mound  Builders,  led  them  to  erect  de- 
fensive works.  It  is  also  not  improbable  that  the  Arizona 
irrigators  may  have  been  long  aimoyed  in  the  later  genera- 
tions of  their  occupation  only  in  the  north  by  wild  tribes  of 
the  high  plateau.  In  both  cases  it  is  probable  that  a  combi- 
nation of  tribes  rushed  upon  them  at  the  last  and  ended  their 
labors  by  a  general  catastrophe.  By  massacre,  or  expulsions, 
or  both,  Arizona  was  made  desolate,  and  the  eastern  Missis- 
si  jipi  Valley  was  cleared  for  the  occupation  of  families  of 
tribes  originating  on  the  plateau  terminating  the  western 
plains. 

These  tribes  had  been  very  long  separated  from  the  great 
Dakota  or  Sioux  family  of  tribes,  or  that  race  had  expelled 
the  original  occupants  of  the  pleasant  Montana  plateau. 
That  family,  when  the  historic  period  commenced  in  America, 
roatned  the  plains  from  the  Arkansas  River  to  the  borders  of 
British  America  and  from  the  mountains  to  the  Mississippi. 
One  of  their  tribes  was  even  settled^  in  Wisconsin  on  the 
western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.     The  race  must  have  been 


ARIZONA    AND    MONTANA    IN    THE    FUTUKE.  583 

Tcsolute  and  bold  in  its  early  days  to  have  spread  so  far,  and 
may  have  driven  out  the  many  tribes  that  afterward  occupied 
the  broad  domain  of  the  vanished  Mound  Builders,  or  aided 
in  expelling  them.  Great  changes  have  followed  tribal  wars 
and  wars  of  races  since  Europeans  first  visited  the  Atlantic 
coast.  The  termination  of  the  two  primitive  civilizations  re- 
ferred to  must  have  been  such  eras  of  great  movement  on  the 
part  of  vigorous  races. 

The  future  of  Montana  must  iiecessarily  be  a  brilliant  one. 
It  is  now  on  the  threshold  of  a  great  and  rapid  development. 
It  is  not  certain  that  the  real  resources  of  Arizona  do  not 
equal,  or  may  not  ultimately  be  found  to  excel,  those  of 
Montana;  but  the  last  lies  in  the  zone  in  which  has  occurred 
the  highest  development  of  the  activities  of  modern  progress. 
The  northern  states  of  the  American  Union  that  have  carried 
the  enterprises  and  fame  of  the  Republic  to  the  highest 
point,  where  most  vigor,  comprehensiveness  of  plan,  and 
power  of  execution  have  been  displayed,  lie  east  of  it  and 
have  already  begun  to  repeat  in  it  the  pioneer  history  of 
which  the  country  is  most  proud.  There  will  be  no  unde- 
sirable or  embarrassing  mixture  of  races;  there  are  no  bad 
traditions  for  them  to  unlearn  there,  and  no  great  local 
peculiarities,  diificult  or  costly  to  master,  to  retard  progress 
when  its  great  agent,  the  railroad,  renders  it  accessible. 
Arizona  lies  in  the  latitude  of  the  serai-tropical  South,  has 
a  climate  unfamiliar  to  the  eastern  settler,  and  its  more  con- 
siderable difficulties  will  be  those  the  present  generation  will 
have  to  conquer.  But  the  Southern  Valley  at  the  east  of  it 
is  ready  for  a  new  era  of  activity  and  expansion ;  the  great 
resources  of  the  mines  will  attract  or  produce  all  that  is 
needful  for  its  growth,  and  it  will  soon  furnish  a  large,  rich 
and  enterprising  State  to  the  Republic. 

Yet,  in  1880,  neither  the  northeast  nor  the  southwest  slope 
of  the  principal  Rocky  Mountain  Plateau  held  the  places 
in  public  estimation  that  are  to  belong  to  them  in  the  future. 


584  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

Culorado  sits  astride  the  highest  part  of  the  Main  Divide- 
Not  far  distant  from  the  Pacific  railway,  the  western  bor- 
der of  the  plains  is  terminated  by  the  eastern  brow  of 
the  high  plateau,  and  the  loftier  ranges  of  peaks  are  about 
six  hundred  miles  distant  from  the  Missouri.  No  part  of 
the  plateau  was  more  accessible  from  the  east,  and  gold  was 
found  there  at  an  early  day,  or  long  before  the  Civil  War. 
A  nucleus  of  settlement  formed  there  at  once.  Before  the 
railway  crossed  the  plains,  growth  was  slow;  but  it  took 
stronger  and  deeper  root.  The  border  of  the  jilains  at  Den- 
ver is  about  5,000  feet  above  the  sea,  the  climate  is  ])ure  and 
healthy,  the  soil  fertile.  The  precious  metals  were  not  at 
first  found  in  very  large  quantities  free  for  the  easy  and 
simple  processes  of  placer  mining;  the  chemical  combina- 
tions with  other  substances  in  which  they  were  mingled  in 
the  rock  when  the  ore  was  crushed  were  hard  to  break  so 
completely  as  to  extract  the  whole  value  of  preci<nis  metal 
present.  Time,  machinery,  and  shrewd  persistence  set  aside 
these  difficulties  in  the  end  ;  agriculture  flourished,  stock 
i-aising  was  found  highly  successful. 

Colorado,  by  degrees,  became  a  favorite  resort  of  the  tour- 
ist, the  invalid  and  the  man  of  business.  Railroads  early 
connected  its  chief  city  with  the  East,  abundance  of  coal  was 
found  and  a  massive  development  was  begun.  This  was  the 
Center,  where  elevating  forces  had  operated  on  a  scale  of 
strenuous  and  ample  majesty  beyond  that  displayed  in  other 
sections.  It  was  readily  supposed  that  mineral  development 
would  finally  be  found  to  correspond  to  the  general  propor- 
tions in  other  ways.  This  faith  seems  to  have  been  realized 
by  discoveries  of  precious  metals  of  greater  richness  and 
extent  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  plateau  about  the  main- 
watershed.  Extraordinary  results  have  been  obtained  at  an 
elevation  of  10,000  feet  with  much  promise  of  even  more 
important  and  widespread  findings  in  the  future. 

The  massive  high  plateau  of  the  "  Sierra  Madre  "  here  sud- 


COLORADO  OVERLOOKING  THE  GREAT  VALLEY.      585 

deiily  rises  from  the  border  of  a  slope  5,000  feet  high,  which 
is  reached  by  an  imperceptible  grade,  and  stands  overlooking 
a  rolling  plain  reaching  to  the  Mississippi  and  continued 
beyond  to  the  broken  country  at  the  foot  of  the  Allegiianies 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Great  Valley,  some  1,500  miles 
distant.  As  if  taking  observations  of  this  vast  basin  and 
concluding  to  render  it  yet  more  ample,  the  main  range  turns 
abruptly  northwest,  giving  a  deep  westward  extension  to  the 
mountain  rim  of  the  Valley  north  of  Colorado.  About  half 
of  Wyoming  and  Montana  lies  westward  of  this  sudden  with- 
drawal of  tlie  dividing  ridge.  A  pass  gives  access  to  the 
Utah  basin — lying  directly  west  of  Colorado — near  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  this  State  and  the  higher  level  of  the  plateau 
graduallv  descends  in  Wvomincr  toward  the  nortli  and  the 
east.  The  River  Platte  finds  its  beginning's  here  and  flov/s 
eastward,  while  many  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri  and 
its  largest  branch  in  Montana — the  Yellowstone — rise  in 
Wyomjng  and  llow  northward  before  turning  eastward. 

It  is  on  this  highest  plateau  in  Colorado  and  its -extensions 
south  and  northwest  that  the  u)iper  branches  of  the  Colorado 
River  rise,  and  these  larger  branches  unite  near  the  western 
line  of  the  State  and  flow  through  the  wonderful  goi'sre  of  the 
Grand  Canon.  New  Mexico  joins  Colorado  on  the  south. 
The  plateau  and  divide  of  the  eastern  and  western  waters 
draws  somewhat  to  the  west,  and  has  a  general  elevation  con- 
siderably less.  The  Rio  Grande  rises  on  the  heights  of 
Southern  Colorado  and  flows  southward  down  a  narrow  val- 
ley a  little  east  of  the  Grand  Divide  to  find  its  way  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico;  while  the  headwaters  of  the  Arkansas, 
north  and  east  of  those  of  the  Rio  Grande,  flow  eastward 
through  a  deep  cutting,  or  cation,  to  the  western  plains,  and, 
many  hundred  miles  distant,  join  the  Lower  Mississippi. 

Thus,  Colorado  lias  an  eastern  slope — the  highest  portion 
of  the  plains — wliicli  is  much  higher  than  the  average  eleva- 
tion of  Montana  and  of  much  of  Arizona.     It  is,  however,. 


586  TUE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

far  enough  south  to  counterbalance  in  part  its  greater  eleva- 
tion and  gives  much  promise  of  the  most  valuable  agricul- 
tural results.  Many  mountain  valleys  are  highly  fertile  and 
the  summit  plateau  has  a  series  of  basins  surrounded  by 
mountain  elevations  which,  though  so  high,  admit  of  cultiva- 
tion. They  are  called  Parks  and  were  probably  the  basins 
of  lakes  or  inland  seas  before  the  close  of  tlie  long  period  of 
elevation.  Lakes  are  indeed  still  found  in  the  Parks  and  the 
soil  is  as  fertile  as  the  scenery  is  beautiful.  A  general  cover- 
ing' of  grasses  adapts  the  plateau  and  the  slopes  to  stock  rais- 
ing and  forests  are  found  on  the  mountain  sides  adequate  to 
most  of  the  needs  of  the  state. 

Thus  the  region  containing  the  greatest  average  elevation 
has  the  general  advantages  of  other  sections  of  the  main 
watershed  and  some  that  are  peculiar  to  it.  Its  resources  are 
vast  beyond  the  present  power  of  estimate.  It  has  already 
nearly  completed  the  general  outline  of  its  railroad  system, 
the  north,  the  south  and  the  east  being  iudependeirtly  con- 
nected with  the  great  commercial  cities  on  the  Missouri  and 
the  Mississippi,  and  many  local  roads  are  already  built.  Its 
inhabitants  have  bright  and  enthusiastic  visions  of  the  future 
greatness  of  the  Centennial  State  and  the  outside  world  is 
very  much  inclined  to  agree  with  them.  It  is, however,  hard 
to  decide  which  region  of  the  Pacific  Slope  and  Mountain 
Plateau  has  the  surest  claim  to  the  greatest  destiny. 

New  Mexico  has  much  the  same  advantages  for  stock  rais- 
ing as  Colorado;  it  has  valleys  of  exti-emest  fertility  and 
gives  promise  of  a  mining  future  of  great  proportions.  If 
Montana  has  a  most  desirable  position  relative  to  the  North- 
ern Pacific  and  the  Great  Lakes,  if  Colorado  and  Wyoming 
have  a  smooth,  easy  and  clieap  connection  liy  many  railways 
with  the  most  wealthy  and  progressive  part  of  the  country 
already  developed.  New  Mexico  has  a  still  more  southern  sun 
and  a  ready  passage  through  fertile  Texas  to  the  Gulf  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.     Arizona  has  ready  access  to  the 


AN    EMliAi;i;ASSMEXT    OK    RICHES.  587 

Gulf  of  California  and  convenient  and  cheap  passage  by  sea 
through  the  fnture  Panama  Ship-Canal  to  the  Atlantic,  and 
is  not  distant  t'roui  the  ports  i»t'  S(nitliern  California.  Utah 
and  Idaho  have  the  disadvantage  of  lying  in  an  interior 
basin,  with  a  surface  rude  and  dry;  but  they  may,  perhaps, 
secure  larger  degrees  of  climatic  improvements  than  more 
open  regions.  They  have  undoubtedly  a  great  agricultural 
and  mining  future  and  are  not  distant  from  the  Pacific. 
Never,  probably,  since  the  world  was  made,  has  industry  pro- 
duced more  striking  changes  in  an  unsightly  desert  than 
.  those  to  be  seen  in  the  Mormon  settlements  of  Utah.  What- 
ever may  be  their  theological  and  social  errors  their  industrial 
virtues  are  illustrated  by  all  the  landscapes  which  they  have 
reclaimed  from  barrenness,  made  charming  to  the  eye  and  yet 
more  satisfactory  to  the  agriculturist. 

The  Pacific  Coast  has  its  special  advantages  of  position, 
of  climate,  and  of  productions.  Observing  all  these  and 
imagining  the  great  future  it  is  one  day  to  reach,  it  is  diffi- 
cult not  to  agree  with  its  inhabitants  that  no  other  region 
can  be  so  desirable.  Yet  the  interior  contains  a  promise  of 
future  wealth  in  its  basins,  its  valleys,  its  rocks  seamed  with 
gold  ami  silver  and  abounding  in  economic  metals,  that 
equally  fires  the  imagination  when  it  attempts  to  portray  the 
possibilities  they  are  likely  to  render  realities  in  time.  The 
Great  Divide,  with  its  mines,  its  grassy  plateaus  and  slopes, 
its  fertile  valleys,  benches  and  plains  melting  insensibly  into 
the  Great  Valley  alive  with  vast  and  thrifty  activities,  is  yet 
more  striking  when  their  boundless  capacities  for  producing 
values  for  man  are  counted  over. 

Here  is  an  embarrassment  of  riches  and  one  knows  not 
which  to  choose,  so  extensive  is  the  promise  everywhere. 
Tlie  prospector  in  Colorado  suddenlj-  finds  extraordinary 
deposits  in  the  rocks,  and  a  city  of  15,000  to  20,000  inhabi- 
tants gathers  in  a  few  months  10,000  feet  above  the  sea. 
Continued  study  shows  that  countless  thousands   of  appar- 


588  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

eiitly  as  rich  or  richer  "  claims "  may  be  located  in  every 
direction,  from  which  hundreds  of  millions  will  soon  be 
realized.  Stock  raising  proves  a  great  success,  and  the  vol- 
ume of  agricultural  production  continues  to  grow  with,  as 
yet,  no  visible  limit.  Surely  this  must  be  the  Land  of 
Promise. 

But  the  new  fame  of  Colorado  has  scarcely  traveled  around 
the  globe  when  fresh  examinations  in  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona  engage  the  attention  of  the  wondering  world.  The 
legends  of  the  Aztecs,  which  so  txcited  and  disappointed  the 
hopes  of  the  Spanish  conquerors  of  Mexico,  had  a  real' 
foundation,  it  seems,  in  these  stupendous  facts;  only  the  gold 
and  silver  lay  beneath  the  surface  waiting  for  the  arts  and 
industries  of  the  moderns  to  release  them.  The  mijre  Utah, 
Idaho  and  Montana  ai-e  examined  and  their  metallic  veins 
tested,  the  larger  becomes  their  promise.  Even  in  California 
and  Nevada  the  vast  products  of  placer  mining  from  1848 
to  1860  seem  likely  to  become  small  by  comparison  with  the 
washings  of  the  vast  quantities  of  ancient  drift,  of  which  the 
gold  dust  of  the  "  foot-hills"  and  '•  gulches  "  of  early  Cali- 
tbrnia  history  were  but  the  skirts  and  the  overflow. 

Beneath  vast  overflows  of  volcanic  rock  are  found  old  river 
beds  and  immense  quantities  of  drift,  at  the  bottom  of  which, 
and  near,  or  on,  the  "  bed-rock  "  a  new  series  of  placers,  oi 
deposits  of  free  gold,  are  found.  It  is  more  abundant — as  re- 
ported by  prospectors  so  far — than  any  similar  deposits  before 
found,  for  it  appears  to  have  been  the  immediate  fountain  of 
the  former  supply.  It  is  more  difficult  to  find,  for  the  lava 
covering  must  be  pierced,  the  underlying  rock  reached,  and  its 
covering  of  earth  searched  over  wide  underground  areas. 
This  area  seems  to  be  confined  to  the  mountains,  so  far  as  now 
known,  but  only  mechanical  labor  is  required.  No  crushing 
of  ore  or  chemical  treatment  is  necessarj'  to  secure  the  gold. 

So  the  discovery  of  previously  unsuspected  placers  is  an- 
nounced in  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Idaho  and  Montana.  Thus 


THE    MINER    AND    THE    FARMER   JOIN    HANDS.  589 

1880  opens  a  new  mining  era  and  invites  capital  and  labor  in 
unlimited  quantity  by  fresh  and  still  more  brilliant  promises 
of  great  reward.  All  enlargement  of  mining  activity  in- 
creases, at  the  same  time  and  in  proportion,  the  assu- 
rance of  reward  to  agriculture  conducted  in  the  vicinity,  for 
it  secures  the  highest  prices  to  the  farmer  as  the  farmer's  vi- 
cinity does  the  most  moderate  cost  of  living  to  the  miner. 
The  railroads  are  now  also  in  tolerable  readiness  to  deliver 
the  people  and  the  facilities  for  working  mines  and  land  at, 
or  near,  the  localities  where  they  are  wanted,  and  to  trans- 
port the  surplus  products  secured  to  the  best  markets  at 
moderate  rates.  It  is  therefore  scarcely  possible  for  the  in- 
dustrious emigrant  to  locate  amiss,  whether  it  be  on  or  about 
the  high  plateau  of  the  Great  Divide  from  Montana  to  New 
Mexico,  in  the  interior  basin  from  northern  Idaho  and  Wash- 
ington to  southern  Arizona,  or  on  the  Pacific  coast  from  Puget 
Sound  to  San  Diego  in  Southern  California.  Everywhere 
over  these  vast  regions  the  new  settler  may  find  a  choice  of 
climates — from  the  bui'ning  heat  of  the  lower  basins  to  the 
temperate  middle  plateaus  and  valleys,  or  the  cold  and  snowy 
heights  among  the  lofty  mountains.  No  region  will  fail  to 
give  him  a  special  and  ample  reward  for  well  directed  indus- 
try, and  the  future  will  smile  upon  him  with  the  promise  pe- 
culiar to  localities  possessing  great,  accessible,  and  virgin 
resources. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    GREAT    BASINS. 


Viewed  as  a  whole,  the  vast  region  west  of  the  Main  Divide,, 
or  summit  nplift  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  is  one  slope  since 
all  its  waters  find  their  way  into  the  Pacific  Ocean,  as  those 
on  the  east  do  into  the  Atlantic.  Estimated  more  in  detail  it 
consists  of  a  series  of  elevations  and  depressions,  tliat  is,  of 
three  ranges  of  mountains,  with  a  general  north  and  south 
direction,  between  which  run  two  valleys.  Arizona,  Utah, 
(with  Nevada)  and  Idaho,  with  adjoining  sections  of  Califor- 
nia, Oregon,  Washington  and  Montana,  lie  more  or  less  in 
the  great  interior  valley  or  connected  series  of  basins.  An 
axis,  or  watershed  along  northern  Utah  and  Nevada  turns  the 
streams  north  or  south.  Western  Utah  itself,  with  Nevada, 
forms  a  separate  basin  from  which  the  waters  do  not  escape 
in  the  ordinary  wa}'.  Evaporation  is  the  only  known  avenue 
by  which  they  pass  out.  Many  of  the  streams  sink  in  the 
desert  sands,  and  probably  are  ultimately  disposed  of  by 
evaporation,  as  is  the  water  poured  into  the  Great  Salt  and 
other  Lakes. 

Thus  it  has  a  river  system  of  its  own,  and  one  of  consid- 
erable magnitude;  for  the  mountains  about  it  are  high,  the 
snowfall  on  many  of  them  is  great,  and  the  waters  annually 
melted  and  sent  into  the  basin  from  them  all  amount  to  a 
very  great  total.  Any  means  that  could  arrest  this  vast  evap- 
oration or  cause  it  to  be  precipitated  again  in  the  form  of  rain 
would  recover  the  deserts  from  perpetual  barrenness.  Culti- 
vation, tree  planting  and  the  change  of  electrical  conditions 
produced  by  railways  with  their  vast  activities,  rapid  move- 
ment and  powerful  concussions  of  the  atmosphere  seem  to- 
supply  these  means.     The  Great  Salt  Lake  was  evidently,  in 

590 


THE   INCEEASE   OF    WATEE    IN    THE    UTAH    BASIN.  591 

former  ages,  at  least  800  feet  higher  than  now.  Since  the 
commencement  of  cultivation  by  the  Mormons  it  is  said  to 
have  risen  fifteen  feet. 

It  is,  apparently,  the  opening  of  the  soil  by  agriculture, 
the  cooling  of  the  surface  by  irrigation,  by  the  vegetables  and 
trees  under  cultivation,  and  the  favorable  influence  of  plant 
life  on  the  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  that  have  led  to  this 
smaller  degree  of  waste  of  water.  There  is  no  large  region 
in  the  country  so  confined  as  this,  and  none  in  which  the  ef- 
fect of  cultivation,  would  be  so  striking.  Many  other  dry 
regions  in  the  world  have  been  observed  to  show  similar  re- 
sults under  cultivation.  The  plains  west  of  the  Missouri 
River  have  been  carefully  studied  by  competent  observers  for 
some  twenty  years,  and  a  heavier  rain-fall  has  been  marked 
and  permanent  since  settlement  commenced.  The  problem 
here  is  a  very  interesting  one.  Should  this  increase  of  surface 
waters  continue  to  develop  in  proportion  to  the  spread  of 
agricultural  settlement  the  final  result  will  be  very  great 
indeed. 

Eastern  Utah  is  drained  by  the  Colorado  River,  and  be- 
longs to  the  basin  of  which  Arizona  is  the  southeastern 
part.  North  of  Utah  is  a  continuation  of  the  same  great  in- 
terior depression  which  reaches  its  lowest  point  near  the 
boundary  between  eastern  Oregon  and  Washington.  Here 
is  anotlier  vast  basin,  although  the  mountains  about  it  are  not 
so  high.  Tiie  northern  and  southern  branches  of  the  Colum- 
bia drain  the  whole  area,  meeting  to  form  a  single  stream  at 
the  lowest  point  of  the  basin,  and  then  breaking  through  the- 
formidable  barrier  of  the  Cascades  on  their  way  directly 
west  to  the  Pacific. 

The  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Mountains  may  be  consid- 
ered as  one  range  from  Southern  California  to  British  Amer- 
ica where  they  become  the  Coast  Range.  Westward  of  these 
is  a  series  of  valleys,  and  a  general  line  of  elevation  runs 
still  further  west  near  the  Pacific  coast.     This  Co.ast  Range 


•592  THE    rACIFIC    SLOPE. 

is  often  broken  tlirough  by  streams  with  their  valleys  and 
sometimes  disappears  for  a  space  to  rise  again  further  on. 
It  is  represented  oft"  the  west  coast  of  British  Columbia  by  a 
chain  of  islands,  and  is,  throughout,  of  less  height  than  the 
Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Kanges,  while  those  are  less  ele- 
vated than  the  Main  Divide,  or  summit  ridge  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

The  southern  part  of  the  interior  basin  is  exceedingly  for- 
bidding and  desolate  in  general  appearance.  This  includes 
Arizona,  southeastern  California,  Nevada  and  Utah.  Bare 
rugged  rocks,  wide  desert  areas — level  or  rolling — are  but 
slightly  relieved  by  belts  of  timber  here  and  there  on  the 
mountain  side,  and  occasional  green  oases  or  pleasant  val- 
leys. Deep  gorges,  or  canons,  and  sheer  precipices  of  rock 
thousands  of  feet  from  top  to  bottom  more  often  produce 
terror  than  admiration  in  a  lonely  traveler.  Yet  the  deserts 
will  probably  be  nearly  all  reclaimed  and  the  mountains  are 
everywhere  rich  in  the  most  valuable  metals.  Thus,  under  a 
repulsive  surface  and  the  most  formidable  apparent  obstacles 
to  occupation  and  use  lie  concealed  elements  of  a  coming 
gieatness  as  yet  impossible  to  measure,  but  that  will  certainly 
be  worthy  of  the  adjective  magnificent.  The  agriculture  of 
the  Mormon  settlers  and  the  revelations  of  the  niines  up  to 
18S0  justify  strong  predictions  as  to  the  future. 

The  Columbia  valley  further  north  presents  some  features 
in  marked  contrast  with  tliose  of  Utah.  The  watershed 
which  turns  the  most  southern  branches  of  Snake  River — 
the  southern  In-anch  of  the  Columbia — northward  corres- 
ponds nearly  with  the  decline  in  elevation  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  as  also  that  of  the  Main  Ridge  from  Colorado  to 
Montana.  The  ridge  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  here  becomes  lit- 
tle more  than  a  confused  mass  of  highlands.  Mt.  Shasta 
may  be  considered  the  northern  termination  of  the  Sierra 
and  that  is  thrown  westward  across  the  upper  Sacramento 
valley,  and,  for  a  space  of  some  hundreds  of  miles  east  and 


iy 


FROM  GREAT  SALT  LAKE  TO  WALLA  WALLA.      593 

west,  the  distinction  between  mountain  and  continuous  valley  is 
almost  lost.  The  extreme  north  of  California  is  a  sea  of  hilis 
and,  indeed,  the  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  region  in  this 
latitude  from  the  Snake  Iliver  to  the  Pacific  coast.  Most  of 
the  interior  may  be  called  a  plateau  of  lava,  rude  and  rough 
and  desolate  beyond  description. 

Yet  it  has  a  summit,  for  the  branches  of  the  Snake  flow 
inward  and  northward,  and  several  streams  in  southwestern 
Oregon  flow  westward  direct  to  the  Pacific.  Further  north, 
however,  the  Sierra  rises  again  and  is  continued  Iti  the  gen- 
eral direction  of  the  higher  southern  chain,  the  valleys,  or 
basins,  on  either  side  become  fully  defined,  and  a  sharp  dis- 
tinction in  climatic  peculiarities  between  the  eastern  and 
western  valleys  is  maintained.  For  this  middle  region,  where 
the  Snake  River  collects  its  forces  for  an  arduous  descent 
through  lava  overfiows  and  deep  rocky  gorges  forming  a 
series  of  canons,  is  a  high  plateau,  sprinkled  over  with  ranges 
of  hills  and  mountains,  with  isolated  lakes  and  broad  lava 
fields.  Among  these,  for  a  considerable  space  above  Mt. 
Shasta,  the  summit  is  not  very  distinguishable  except  by  the 
turning  of  the  streams  to  and  from  the  Pacific. 

This  partial  interruption  of  the  high  mountain  ridge  and 
its  comparatively  moderate  elevation  in  the  Cascades  of  Ore- 
gon and  Washington  makes  a  wide  diflerence,  as  to  climate 
and  appearance,  between  the  basin  of  the  upper  Columbia 
and  that  of  Utah  and  the  Colorado.  It  has  been  a  region  of 
great  volcanic  overflows  in  comparatively  modern  times  and 
has,  therefore,  many  bare  and  desolate  lava  fields  and  much 
ragged  rock  and  wild  scenery.  But  the  mountains  are  gener- 
ally clothed  with  timber,  below  the  timber  line  are  wide 
stretches  of  grassy  slope,  and  in  the  valleys  and  lower  levels 
is  a  soil  of  surpassing  richness,  often  composed  of  deep  veg- 
etable mold.  The  warm  winds,  laden  with  more  or  less 
moisture  from  the  Pacific,  cross  the  comparatively  low  and 
more  or  less  interrupted  mountain  barrier,  and  their  influ- 
38 


594  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

ence  is  manifest  through  the  whole  upper  Columbia  basin 
and  even  across  the  main  summit  in  Montana  far  down  the 
long  slope  where  the  Missouri  gathers  its  waters  before  turn- 
ing the  mighty  mass  southward. 

Two  hundred  miles,  or  more,  above  Mt.  Shasta  the  north- 
ward descent  of  the  interior  valley  plateau  becomes  pro- 
nounced in  the  wide  space  between  the  Cascade  Mountains 
and  Snake  River,  and  several  considerable  streams  flow 
northward  directly  to  the  Columbia  below  the  junction  of 
its  two  great  northern  and  southern  tributaries.  Far  to  the 
east  of  Shasta  the  waters  of  the  Snake  are  gathered,  in 
northern  Nevada  and  Utah,  southern  Idaho  and  southeast- 
ern Oregon.  The  forty-second  parallel  of  north  latitude 
bounds  California  and  Nevada  on  the  north  and  Oregon  and 
Idaho  on  the  south.  Two  degrees  further  nortli  the  broad 
upper  Columbia  basin  may  be  said  to  begin.  It  is,  within 
the  United  States,  not  very  far  from  a  square  whose  sides  are 
at  least  500  miles  long.  The  two  great  streams  called  the 
Lewis  and  the  Clarke's  Forks  of  the  Columbia,  from  the  names 
of  the  two  first  Government  explorers,  unite  somewhat  west 
and  north  of  this  geographical  center,  in  southern  Washing- 
ton, and  flow  nearly  west  to  their  passage  through  the  Cas- 
cade range.  The  northern  branch,  or  Clarke's  Fork,  draining  a 
large  area  in  southeastern  British  Columbia,  besides  the  upper 
part  of  the  basin  within  the  United  States,  is  now  called  the 
Columbia  as  the  southern,  which  forms  the  boundary  between 
Oregon  and  Idaho  for  a  long  distance,  is  called  the  Snake. 

The  whole  region  has  innumerah)le  local  mountain  ranges, 
valleys,  basins  and  plateaus.  The  northern  part  has  several 
lakes  of  considerable  size.  Many  of  the  valleys,  especially 
near  the  center  of  the  basin,  are  provided  with  a  deep  black 
mold  that  is  incredibly  fertile.  "As  fertile  as  the  Nile  "  is 
supposed  to  express  superlative  capacity  in  the  soil,  which  is 
probably  true  for  the  range  of  plants  grown  in  the  Nile  val- 
ley now  and  for  unknown  centuries  before  the  historic  period; 


SINGULAR    FERTILITY    OF    UPPER    COLUMBIA    VALLEYS.       595 

but  this  soil  has  even  stronger  qualities.  The  whole  basin  is 
almost  a  single  volcanic  field.  These  valley  bottoms  of  the 
Columbia  have  collected  an  abundance  of  the  chemical  com- 
pounds peculiar  to  volcanic  regions  to  give  the  soil  the 
utmost  of  vigor  and  durability  and  a  capacity  for  a  various 
vegetable  growth. 

The  climate  is,  in  the  main,  excellent,  although  the  rain-fall 
is  too  light  to  safely  dispense  with  irrigation  and  the  far 
northern  limit  of  the  Columbia  basin  Vjy  a  gradiHil  rise  to  the 
high  plateau  in  the  center  of  British  Columbia  gives  a  free 
sweep  to  the  cold  mountain  blasts  of  winter.  Yet  water  for 
irrigation  is  abundant,  there  are  so  many  mountains  to  wring 
the  clouds  dry,  and  it  is  little  more  than  a  hundred  miles  from 
the  crest  uf  the  Cascades  to  the  Pacific  with  its  warm  south- 
west winds  and  heated  air  currents  from  the  "  Gulf  Stream," 
or  Asiatic  Ocean  River,  that  strikes  the  coast  at  the  north. 
This  relation  to  the  Pacific,  with  the  general  moderate  eleva- 
tion of  the  Cascade  Range,  modifies  the  climate  and  improves 
the  productive  capacity  of  the  soil  very  much. 

The  "  bench  "  lands — the  slopes,  or  levels  between  the  valleys 
and  the  mountain  sides — make  the  finest  grazing  fields.  Above 
them  is  usually  more  or  less  timber— sometimes  considerable 
forests.  These  are,  indeed,  local,  but  fairly  supply  the  ordi- 
nary wants  of  the  settlers.  It  is  another  Montana  west  of 
the  high  ridge  of  the  continent — not,  so  far  as  is  now  known, 
in  all  parts  so  rich  in  metals,  but  with  more  agricultural  ad- 
vantages. It  is,  as  yet,  but  thinly  settled  for  want,  partly,  of 
its  merits  being  generally  understood,  and  partly  for  the  need 
of  railroads  to  connect  it  with  the  outer  world. 

The  basin  of  the  upper  Columbia  has  about  230,000  square 
miles  within  the  United  States,  and  that  part  of  it  lying  fur- 
ther north  in  British  Columbia  is  said  to  cover  about  45,000 
square  miles.  This  would  give  the  entire  surface  drained  by 
the  Upper  Columbia  as  about  175,000,000  acres,  of  which  a 
little  less  than  150,000,000  lie  in  the  United  States.     The 


596  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

southern  part  of  this  is  a  liigh  valley  plateau — so  high  as  to 
largely  fill  up  the  depression  between  the  two  raugesof  moun- 
tains, the  ''  Motlier  Mountains,"  or  Great  Divide  on  the  east, 
and  the  combined  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascades  on  the  west. 
It  is  a  very  broken  region,  and  is  largely  covered  with  vast 
lava  overflows  of  comparatively  modern  date.  The  Yellow- 
stone Park,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  main  ridge  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  is  in  the  same  latitude,  and  still  gives  evidence 
of  unquenched  fires  somewhere  below  in  the  rocks  in  its  Gey- 
sers. 

One-third  of  the  United  States  part  of  this  basin  may  be 
stricken  off  as  largely  unavailable  for  farming  purposes,  al- 
though there  are  many  charming  fertile  valleys,  uplands  cov- 
ered with  nuti'itious  grasses,  and  strips  of  mountain  forest, 
which  will  ultimately  contribute  very  largely  to  the  support 
of  its  future  mining  population.  In  fact,  portions  of  it  in 
southeastern  Idaho  have  already  been  settled  and  cultivated^ 
and  have  been  found  even  superior  to  Utah  in  some  respects. 
Yet,  as  a  whole,  the  region  drained  by  the  more  southern 
waters  of  the  Columbia  is  at  present  uninviting,  difficult  of 
access  and  sterile.  The  remaining  100,000,000  acres  is  an  al- 
ternation of  rude  craggy  mountains,  of  timber  belts,  of  good 
grazing  lands,  and  of  incomparably  fertile  valleys  and  small 
basins.  Idaho  alone,  has  been  said,  on  the  authority  of  the 
surveying  officers  of  the  Government,  to  contain  16,000,000 
acres  of  agricultural  land,  which  is  about  a  fifth  more  than 
all  the  lands  of  the  rich  and  prosperous  State  of  Ohio  that 
are  under  actual  cultivation. 

There  is  unquestionably  more  tillable  land  in  this  upper 
Columbia  basiti  belonging  to  the  United  States  than  in  all  the 
New  England  and  Middle  States  together.  The  soil,  as  an 
average,  is  much  more  valuable  for  production,  the  climate  is 
more  agreeable,  there  is  probably  nearly  as  much  woodland 
as  now  remains  in  those  -eastern  regions,  and  a  vast  sum  of 
grazing  lands. .  If  the  rain-fall  is  limited  there  are  plenty  of 


A    GREAT    FUTURE    FOR   THE    COLUMBIA    BASIN.  597 

streams  for  irrigation,  and  a  certainty  of  results  thereby  se- 
cured that  far  more  than  compensates  for  the  trouble  and  cost 
of  "covering  the  land  with  water"  by  irrigating  canals.  But 
there  is  considerable  rain-fall  and  cultivation  is  often  carried 
on  without  irrigation  with  great  success.  It  is  also  probable 
thiit  the  millions  of  agricultural  homes  that  will  soon  be  made 
all  over  the  basin  will  materially  improve  the  rain-fall  and 
the  climate  generally.  The  greater  mildness  of  the  western 
slope  of  Montana  from  the  influence  of  warm  Pacific  air  has 
been  proved  in  fruit  raising,  which  is  more  abundantly  suc- 
cessful west  of  the  Main  Ridge  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
this  Territory  than  east  of  it. 

Eastern  Montana,  away  from  the  Main  Ridge  and  its  higher 
and  nearer  spurs,  is  more  rounded  and  rolling — -mountain 
chains  sometimes  showing  only  as  immense  swells.  On  the 
west,  throughout  the  upper  Columbia  basin,  there  was  no  gen- 
eral ice  floe  to  smooth  and  tone  down  the  rude  and  ragged 
outlines  of  the  mountains,  and  it  can  not  compete  with  east- 
ern Montana  in  the  ease  and  magnitude  of  its  stock-growing 
business.  Yet  it  has  a  vast  sum  of  grazing  lands.  The  up- 
per Columbia  farmers  are  already  beginning  to  raise  wheat  by 
millions  of  bushels  annually,  and  are  quite  sure  of  extreme 
prosperity  in  the  near  future. 

They  require  comprehensive  facilities  of  transportation  in 
many  competing  lines.  When  several  railroads  connect  them 
with  Portland  and  Puget  Sound,  with  California,  with  Utah 
and  the  Central  Pacific,  east  by  the  Northern  Pacific  with 
Lake  Superior  and  the  general  railroad  system  of  the  country, 
the  problem  will  be  completely  solved.  Individual  industry 
«o-operating  with  bountiful  nature  will  do  the  rest. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    PACIFIC    COAST FROM    PUGET    SOUND    TO    SAN    DIEOO. 

We  have  seen  that  a  line  of  depression  runs  along  the  coast 
west  of  the  Cascades  and  Sien-a  Nevadas,  bounded  on  the 
water  side  by  elevations  of  still  less  height,  often  broken 
through  and  sometimes  almost  or  quite  disappearing.  They 
are  not  a  very  serious,  yet  a  most  useful  and  valuable,  check 
to  the  entrance  of  Pacific  winds  and  moisture  to  the  series  of 
depressions  more  or  less  strongly  defined  within. 

At  the  northwestern  boundary  of  Washington  this  series  of 
valleys  parallel  with  the  coast  terminates.  The  Cascades  be- 
come, further  north,  the  Coast  Range,  and  the  ridge  which, 
further  south,  bids  defiance  to  the  waves  and  tempers  the 
harsh  damp  winds  of  the  Pacific,  sinks  still  more,  and  is  vis- 
ible only  in  a  series  of  islands — Vancouver  and  the  Queen 
Charlotte  group.  Between  the  two  for  the  space  of  several 
hundred  miles  the  waves  and  storms  rush  in  against  the  foot- 
hills and  plains  lying  immediately  west  of  the  Cascades. 
Vancouver  has  a  surface  of  about  16,000  square  miles,  and  is 
separated  from  northern  Washington  by  a  deep  and  not  very 
wide  channel.  At  its  southeast  extremity  spreads  the  Gulf  of 
Georgia,  considerably  filled  up  with  islands;  a  channel  much 
embarrassed  with  islands  separates  it  from  the  continent  on  the 
east,  and  Puget  Sound — a  deep  inlet,  not  wide,  but  with  many 
long  arms — extends  south  from  the  Gulf  of  Georgia  quite  to 
the  center  of  western  Washington.  The  Columbia  River, 
after  passing  through  the  Cascade  Mountains,  flows  first  west, 
then  north  and  again  west  to  the  sea,  160  miles  distant  by  its 
winding  course,  and  forms  the  boundary  between  Washington 
and  Oregon. 

Western  Washington  is  ratjier  irregularly  broken  up  into 

598 


WESTEKN    OREGON    AND    WASHINGTON.  599 

a  variety  of  basins — some  of  the  streams  flowing  direct  to 
the  ocean,  some  to  Puget  Sound,  and  others  into  the  Colum- 
bia. Its  surface  is,  therefore,  varied,  none  being  very  high. 
The  watershed  elevations,  the  moderate  valleys  and  meadow 
lands  are  numerous  but  not  e.xtensive.  Western  Oregon  has 
a  charming  valley  and  long  stream  running  north  to  the  Co- 
lumbia— the  Willamette.  This  valley  extends  south  consid 
erably  more  than  half-way  toward  the  California  line.  South 
of  this  are  several  transverse  valleys,  the  streams  of  which 
flow  into  the  ocean — the  most  considerable  being  the  Umpqua 
and  Rogue  River. 

Almost  all  of  this  coast  region  is  heavily  wooded,  the  ex- 
ceptions being  mainly  in  the  Willamette  valley  and  some 
other  bottom  or  low  basin  lands.  The  low  and  open  charac- 
ter of  Washington  on  the  northwest  permits  the  warm  winds, 
heavily  laden  with  moisture,  to  flow  down  the  length  of  Ore- 
gon at  certain  seasons,  from  the  warm  East  India  current 
which  crosses  from  the  coast  of  Japan  and  strikes  the  North 
American  coast  near  the  peninsula  of  Alaska  and  below. 
This  coast  interior  is,  therefore,  abundantly  watered.  The 
climate  is  mild,  the  soil  has  the  immense  fertility  and  stimu- 
lating salts  supplied  so  freely  in  volcanic  regions,  and 
vegetable  growth  is  very  luxuriant.  The  trees  are  unusually 
tall,  valuable  for  the  clear  lumber  they  produce,  and  of 
the  most  desirable  species.  The  rains  are  mostly  received  in 
winter,  and  farmi^ig  in  summer  has  little  check.  The  soil  is 
light  and  sandy  about  Puget  Sound  having,  apparently,  been 
Teceivetl,  in  part,  from  the  ocean.  Elsewhere  it  is  the  charac- 
teristic debris  of  the  mountains,  and,  in  the  valleys  and  lower 
levels,  rich  vegetable  mold  has  gathered. 

Oregon  and  AYashington  west  of  the  Cascades  have  nearly 
the  extent  of  surface  of  New  York,  and  almost  all  of  it  is 
available  for  farming  when  cleared  of  its  forest  growth.  But 
its  forests  are  invaluable.  They  will  form,  in  the  near  future, 
■one  of  the  largest  sources  of  gain  found  in  this  region.     For 


600  THE    PACIFIC   SLOPE. 

tlie  ordinary  grains,  vegetables  and  fruits  of  the  temperate 
zone  the  valleys  and  lower  slopes  of  western  Oregon  and 
Washington  are  not  excelled  in  the  United  States,  probably. 
The  bays,  inlets,  and  rivers  are  stocked  with  salmon  and  other 
fish  to  an  extent  unknown  on  any  other  coast  of  the  country, 
greatly  adding  to  the  resources  of  the  region.  The  catching 
and  canning  of  salmon  is  already  a  large  industry,  and  is 
likely  to  reach  great  proportions  when  the  East  becomes 
readilj'  accessible  by  rail. 

One  of  its  chief  advantages  is  that  of  position.  Shipping 
from  the  xVtlantic  may  pass  half  across  the  continent  by  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  western  point  of 
Lake  Superior.  The  Northern  Pacific  railroad  connects  this 
point — when  that  road  is  completed — with  the  metropolis  of 
Oregon,  with  the  lower  Columbia  and  Puget  Sound,  crossing 
the  grassy  plains  and  uplands  of  Montana  and  the  fertile  ba- 
sin of  the  ujiper  Columbia.  An  Asiatic  and  other  Pacific 
commerce  will  presently  rise  in  this  far  Northwest  and 
develop  industries  vast  and  varied.  A  great  highway  of 
trans-continental  trade  and  rapid  intercourse  will  elevate  this 
coast  into  a  prominence  as  rare  as  comparative  neglect  of  it, 
until  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  has  been  com- 
plete. It  will  become  one  of  the  busiest  and  most  rapidly 
wealth-producing  regions  of  the  singularly  fortunate  Repub- 
lic. It  is  not  the  least  of  its  advantages  that  the  navigable 
waters  and  ea.sy  grades  of  the  Great  Valley  approach  so 
near. 

The  remainder  of  tliis  coast  within  the  United  States  is 
California,  most  prominent  in  the  past  and  the  present,  and 
richest  in  the  favorable  features  which  enter  into  an  esti- 
mate of  the  future.  Almost  immediately  after  the  United 
States  ac(piired  possession  of  it  the  fame  of  its  "foot-hills," 
broad  plains,  lofty  mountains,  "  Big  Trees,"  and  magnificent 
Golden  Gate,  with  its  extended  land-locked  harbor,  became 
world  wide.     Until  recent  years  it  seemed  almost  desirable 


THE    OKEAT    MERITS    OF    CALIFORNIA.  601 

• — if  wishing  conid  have  made  it  so — that  the  vast  region 
intervening  Ijetween  it  and  the  Great  Valley — with  its  lofty 
mountains,  deep  hasins,  alkali  plains,  and  high,  rude  pla- 
teaus could  be  annihilated;  but  no  such  wish  could  now  be 
felt.  California  was  the  Pacific  Slope,  the  Eldorado,  the 
golden  portion  of  the  United  States.  It  was  believed  to  be 
as  eminent  in  climate  and  in  capacity  of  agricultural  produc- 
tion as  in  superiority  of  position  and  to  be  worth  more  than 
all  the  rest  together. 

Its  merits,  its  great  and  varied  possibilities  developed 
sooner  and  more  clearly  than  those  of  other  regions  of  the 
Slope.  The  longer  it  was  inhabited  the  more  striking  and 
massive  did  its  various  capacities  appear.  The  diminish- 
ing result  from  "  placer "  mining  was  little  regarded,  so 
much  more  important  did  the  gains  of  cultivation,  stock 
raising  and  commerce  become.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  every 
part  of  the  mountain  region  developed  some  peculiar  advan- 
tage— some  one  or  more  elements  of  superb  promise,  and, 
indeed,  of  rapid  realization. 

California  needed  to  be  a  remarkable  region,  indeed,  to 
maintain  its  earl}'  won  pre-eminence  among  so  many  later, 
but  very  capable,  rivals.  Had  they  been  appreciated  and 
developed  first,  it  may  be  that  this  pre-eminence  would  have 
been  long  deferred,  but  it  must  have  been  acknowledged  at 
the  last. 

The  high  plateau  that  has  been  spoken  of  as  nearly  obliter- 
ating the  interior  trough  which  extends  from  the  north 
Columbia  to  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado,  also  crosses  north- 
ern California  and  southern  Oregon,  almost  filling  up  the 
general  depression  that  runs  from  the  Gulf  of  Georgia  to 
southern  California,  not  far  from  the  coast.  It  is  this  trans- 
verse elevation  extending  from  Wyoming  to  the  Pacific,  that, 
within,  separates  the  basin  of  Utah  and  Nevada  from  that  of 
the  upper  Columbia,  and,  on  the  west,  that  of  the  great  Cali- 
fornia valk'v  from   the  basin  of  the  lower  Columbia.     It  is  a 


602  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

plateau  only  when  considered  in  its  average  elevation  and 
full  extent.  Viewed  in  detail  it  is  a  confused  mass  of  moun- 
tains, gorges,  small  basins  and  lava  fields.  Yet,  the  fact  of 
the  two  depressions  east  and  west  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas  and 
their  northern  continuation,  the  Cascades,  still  remains,  al- 
though quite  indistinct,  especially  in  southern  Oregon. 

Shasta,  a  most  imposing  mountain  mass  of  over  14,000  feet 
in  elevation  and  formerly  a  volcano,  shows  how  the  elevating 
force  strayed  from  its  proper  line  by  confronting — standing 
in  the  middle  as  it  were — of  the  California  valley  and  form- 
ins:  its  northern  barrier.  The  Sacramento  River  rises  in  its 
neighborhood  and  flows  southward,  its  valley  constantly  en- 
larging until  it  spreads  out  in  great  undulating  plains  and 
the  river  finally  flanks  the  wide  mountain  i-egion  between  its 
ireneral  basin  and  the  Pacific  coast  and  flows  westward  to  the 
Golden  Gate.  Here,  just  before  it  reaches  the  sea  level  in 
San  Francisco  Bay,  it  is  joined  by  the  San  Joaquin,  which 
drains  a  still  larger  valley,  though  the  valley  extends  south  for 
a  much  longer  distance. 

Thus,  the  two  valleys  ineet  a  little  northward  of  the  center 
of  the  vast  basin  and  the  waters  united  reach  the  ocean  at 
San  Francisco.  Through  this  passage  the  waters  of  the  ocean 
enter  the  valley  enclosure  and  spread  out  in  the  long  armed 
inlet  of  San  Francisco  Bay.  It  is  merely  a  break  in  the 
Coast  Range  of  mountains  to  give  hospitable  entertainment 
to  the  broad  Pacific  in  return  for  its  commercial  services. 
Below  the  Golden  Gate,  as  above,  a  wide  area  of  mountain 
and  valley  extends  hundreds  of  miles  down  the  coast. 

From  JSTorthern  "Washington  to  Southern  California  the 
distance  of  the  mountain  range  forming  the  eastern  wall  of 
the  various  valleys,  or  basins,  from  the  Pacific  shore  is 
nowhere  far  from  one  hundred  miles.  It  is  the  greatest  in 
middle  California  and  least  from  the  sea  across  Los  Angeles 
plains.  Somewhat  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  way  down  the 
length  of  California  the  Coast  Range  and  the  Sierra  Nevadas 


THE    GENERAL    SURFACE    OF    CALIFORNIA.  603 

throw  out  spurs  that  meet  and  dose  in  the  valley,  forming  its 
southern  end.  On  the  Pacific  side  of  the  valley,  from  the 
headwaters  of  the  Sacramento  to  some  distance  below  those 
o^"  the  San  Joaquin,  a  wide  space  is  mountainous.  The  ele- 
vations on  tliiri  side  are  comparatively  moderate — seldom 
more  than  4,000  feet — while  the  eastern  wall  of  the  valley  is 
about  6,000.  Only  one  opening  in  the  coast  chain  gives  con-, 
tinuous  access  from  the  ocean  to  the  valley,  and  that  is  at  the 
Oolden  Gate. 

Forests  cover  much  of  the  mountain  sides,  especially  of 
the  Coast  Range.  Periodical  rains  visit  the  valley  in  the 
winter  months,  and  it  has  singular  advantages  which  will 
be  dwelt  on  more  at  large  in  another  chapter.  The  Sierra 
Nevadas  on  the  east  of  the  valley  attain  their  greatest  eleva- 
tion opposite  the  Golden  Gate  and  further  south. 

Northern  California  is  varied  in  surface,  partly  a  rough 
mountainous  region,  well  watered  and  generally  heavily 
wooded.  Alona:  the  coast  below  San  Francisco  there  are 
some  delightful  localities  in  a  wide  region  similarly  formed 
yet  less  rough  and  wild.  It  has  some  fine  farming  lands  and 
also  good  ports  on  the  coast,  some  charming  valleys  and  plains, 
a  warmer  climate  and  less  moisture  than  in  the  north,  though 
much  more  than  in  the  great  valley  of  the  San  Joaquin  in 
the  interior.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley, 
on  the  lower  slopes  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  are 
the  famous  forests  of  "Big  Trees."  The  "  Yosemite"  is  a 
romantic  and  very  impressive  side  valley,  or  deep  gorge,  on 
the  western  side  of  the  same  range. 

These  trees  are  really  monarchs  of  the  forest,  being  found 
sometimes  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  feet  in  diameter,  and 
standing  300  feet  high.  The  western  coast  has  many  of  the 
same  species  not  usually  so  immense  in  size.  Yosemite  is 
a  valley  eight  miles  long  by  two  wide,'  with  almost  perpen- 
dicular walls  three-fourths  of  a  mile  high.  Most  things  be- 
longing to  this  region — in  fact  to  the  whole  Pacific  Slope — 


(i04  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

are  characterized  by  vastness  of  proportions.  Thus  the  Cali- 
fornia valley  or  basin — Central  California  it  is  often  called — • 
would  about  contain  the  whole  State  of  Ohio,  while  space 
would  still  be  left  in  the  remainder  of  the  State  for  throe 
more  divisions  of  the  same  size.  Half  of  the  population  of 
the  United  States  could  find  homes  and  support  here. 

Below  the  mountain  barrier  which  closes  the  San  Joaquin 
valley  at  the  south  is  the  Los  Angeles  plain  seventy-five  miles 
long  and  thirty  wide.  Although  resembling  a  desert  during 
the  dry  season,  in  its  natural  state,  even  more  than  the  San 
Joaquin  valley,  it  is  capable  of  the  most  wonderful  improve- 
ment, and  will  become,  in  time,  to  the  eye,  an  earthly  paradise. 
The  rapidity  of  growth  of  vegetation  when  supplied  with 
moisture  in  sufficient  quantity,  the  prodigal  yield  of  rare 
semi-tropical  fruits  and  nuts,  and  its  exposure  to  the  Pacific 
on  the  west  give  to  it  and  to  the  still  more  southern  parts  of 
the  State  some  advantages  which  no  other  section  of  the 
United  States  possesses. 

When  all  possible  sources  of  irrigation  are  fully  employed 
probably  Southern  California,  and,  it  may  be,  the  Colorado 
Desert  east  and  southeast  of  it,  will  become  the  choicest  re- 
gion of  the  whole  country  for  residence  and  small  farming, 
or  gardening  and  fruit  I'aising.  But  at  present  it  has  only 
shown  the  remarkable  character  of  its  possibilities,  a  careful 
examination  of  which  commonly  fills  the  observer  with  rap- 
ture. The  Colorado  Desert  seems  to  be,  in  its  natural  state, 
the  utmost  extreme  of  the  dismal  desolation  of  which  even 
the  Pacific  Slope  is  capable,  various  and  wonderful  as  are  the 
capacities  in  that  respect  of  some  of  its  arctic  solitudes,  lava 
fields,  rainless  basins,  high  plateaus  and  ragged  mountains. 
Some  portions  of  it  lie  hundreds  of  feet  beneath  the  level  of 
the  ocean.  Dos  Palmas,  a  station  on  the  Southern  Pacific 
railway,  is  263  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Pacific.  Travel 
must  be  continued  sixty  miles  northwestward  on  this  railroad 
before  ground  lying  at  the  level  of  the  sea  is  reached.     Here 


THE    DESOLATE    COLORADO    DESERT.  605 

there  was  once  a  considerable  inland  sea,  the  bottom  of  which 
is  covered  with  salt,  alkali  deposits,  and  various  pungent 
chemical  compounds  lyiilg  bare  under  a  blazing  tropical  sun 
and  cloudless  sky.  Violent  winds,  peculiar  to  this  region, 
produce  sand  storms  almost  equal  to  the  hot  Simooms  of  Af- 
rican deserts,  and  bring  the  climax  of  discomfort  and  distress 
on  the  unhappy  traveler. 

This  region  is  the  counterpart,  yet  in  some  respects  the  con- 
trast, in  extremity  of  desolate  repulsiveness  of  Arizona  on  the 
other  side  of  the  lower  Colorado.  The  portion  lying  below 
sea  level  is  said  to  have  an  extent  of  1,600  square  miles.  It 
appears  practicable  to  turn  a  part  of  the  waters  of  the  Colo- 
rado River  into  it  and  form  a  large  lake.  The  evaporation 
from  such  an  inland  sea  would  materially  im]>rove  the  whole 
region,  and  is  likely  to  be  done  at  some  future  time.  But 
this  desert  is  a  very  extensive  region  consisting  of  high 
swells,  rugged  masses  of  rock  elevation,  broad  plains  and  val- 
leys as  weir  as  the  dry  bed  of  a  comparatively  modern  inland 
sea.  It  is  300  miles  across  from  Ft.  Mojave  to  Los  Angeles, 
and  it  is  almost  continuous  northeastward  toward  Great  Salt 
Lake  across  southeastern  Nevada  and  southwestern  Utah — a 
distance  of  many  hundred  miles.  It  is,  with  these  associated 
areas,  the  largest  and  most  complete  desert  in  the  United 
States.  Yet  a  large  part  of  it  is  as  capable  of  being  finally 
reclaimed  as  most  of  the  now  desolate  fields  of  the  Prehis- 
toric Arizonians. 

A  wise  use  of  such  surface  supplies  of  water  as  may  be  ob- 
tained from  mountain  streams  and  ordinary  wells,  supple- 
mented by  artesian  wells,  will  probably  produce  great  changes 
in  the  dry,  hot  climate.  The  streams  would  be  larger,  surface 
wells  would  furnish  more  abundant  supplies.  There  would 
be  rain-fall,  probably,  where  now  there  is  none,  and  certainly 
a  heavier  fall  of  winter  snows  on  the  mountains.  The  ele- 
ments of  vast  fertility  do  not  have  to  be  created.  They  now 
exist   among    the   hot  pungent  sands   in   great   abundance. 


606  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

When  the  increase  of  population  on  more  immediately  avail- 
able lands  shall  require  more  space  these  latent  resources  will 
be  improved,  and  means  will  be  foUnd  to  cause  the  desert 
to  bloom  in  grateful  abundance. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AGEICULTUEE    ON    THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

People  went  to  California  first  in  pursuit  of  gold  and  a 
large  part  of  them,  up  to  1860,  were  engaged  in  placer  min- 
ing. Wheat  was  imported  for  food,  it  is  said,  as  late  as  1861. 
Yet  much  had  already  been  done  in  the  northern  and  central 
parts  of  the  California  valley  to  test  the  capacities  of  the  soil 
and  fitness  of  the  climate  for  agricultural  purposes.  The 
census  of  1850  reported  17,000  bushels  of  wheat;  that  of 
1860,  5,900,000;  and  by  1870  there  were  produced  16,676,000 
bushels.  Between  1870  and  1880  the  annual  product  per- 
haps averaged  22,000,000  bushels,  sometimes  rising  above 
30,000,000  and  sometimes  falling  below  20,000,000.  Irriga- 
tion was  not  much  employed  in  raising  this  grain,  and  usually 
three  years  out  of  seven  proved  much  too  dry  for  fair  results, 
especially  in  the  lower  Sacramento  and  most  of  the  San  Joa- 
quin valleys.  The  rains  are  all  in  the  winter  season,  the 
later  growth  and  ripening  period  being  entirely  rainless. 
The  quality  of  wheat  grown  under  such  conditions  is  unusu- 
ally excellent. 

This  soil  appeared  to  be  particularly  suited  to  this  import- 
ant grain,  and  the  abundance  of  capital  furnished  by  mining 
permitted  farming  on  an  immense  scale  where  large  profits  were 
promised.  Soon  the  central  regions  of  the  valley  took  on  the 
appearance,  in  the  growing  season,  of  a  vast  sea  of  wheat. 
Sometimes  many  tens  of  thousands  of  acres  were  embraced 
in  a  single  field,  the  property  of  one  person.  The  later  indi- 
cations are,  however,  that  undertakings  so  large  will  not,  in 
the  long  run,  be  the  most  profitable.  Smaller  fields,  more 
carefully  cultivated  and  more  or  less  irrigated,  produce  larger 
and  more  certain  profits  to  labor  and  capital.      It  lias  also 

607 


60S  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

been  found  tliat  other  things  may  be  cultivated  with  more 
profit  than  wiieat  at  its  best,  so  that  huge  monopolies  of  land 
are  not  likely  to  be  permanent. 

California  covers  a  surface  of  100. 500,000  acres,  or  157,000 
square  miles.  Of  this  the  waters — bays,  lakes  and  rivers — 
cover  1,531,000  acres.  The  great  central  valley  is  formed  by 
the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  on  the  east  and  the  Coast 
Range  on  the  west,  which  approach  each  other  at  the  north 
and  south  and  enclose  a  vast  elongated  basin.  The  opening 
of  the  Golden  Gate  through  the  Coast  Range  admits  the 
waters  of  the  Pacific  which  spread  out  within  the  basin  into 
the  very  fine  Bay  of  San  Francisco.  This  bay  receives  the 
general  drainage  of  the  whole  valley,  is  about  fifty  miles  long 
and  five  wide,  the  Golden  Gate  being  a  deep  passage  to  the 
ocean,  one  mile  wide  and  four  long.  The  valley  is  about  450 
miles  in  extreme  length,  with  an  average  width  of  sixty  miles 
without  including  the  foot-hills  and  lateral  valleys.  The 
Coast  Mountains  have  much  less  elevation  than  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  permit  the  higher  moisture-bearing  clouds  to 
make  avast  annual  winter  deposit  of  snow  on  the  latter  range. 
In  the  spring  and  early  summer  the  snow  melts  on  all  sides 
of  the  valley  and  sends  down  innumerable  streams  to  the 
lower  levels. 

This  supplies  all  the  conditions  of  irrigation  throughout 
the  valley,  and  the  time  is  fairly  sure  to  come  when  a  great 
part  of  this  vast  rolling  plain  will  be  utilized  for  agricultural 
])urposes.  Already  a  comprehensive  plan  has  been  devised. 
This  contemplated  a  main  canal,  fed  sufiicieutly  by  mountain 
streams,  to  be  carried  around  the  three  sides  of  the  San  Joa- 
quin valley,  which  should  be  tapped  for  irrigating  the  entire 
surface  of  the  valley  within  and  below  its  level  unless  other- 
wise supplied  from  local  sources.  By  the  help  of  this,  or 
some  other,  system  the  whole  region  will  ultimately  become 
as  l)looming  and  boundlessly  productive  as  a  garden. 

The  climate  of  *nuch  of  the  basin  is  subtropical.      Too  far 


THE    CALIFORNIA    VALI.EV    IS    SEMI-TROPICAL.  609 

south  and  too  well  sheltered  by  high  luountains  to  be  much 
affected  by  the  cool  winds  that  temper  most  other  regions  in 
the  same  latitude,  the  growth  of  vegetation  is  not  suspended 
in  winter.  Flowers  bloom  in  the  open-air  every  mouth  in 
the  year.  When  cultivation  is  conducted  with  due  care  and. 
skill  two  or  more  crops  may  be  obtained  from  the  same  soil 
during  the  year.  It  is  said  that  Alfalfa,  or  Chilian  clover, 
which  furnishes  rich  food  for  almost  all  kinds  of  stock,  may 
sometimes  be  cut  from  three  to  five  times  in  the  year,  often 
yielding  fifteen  tons  to  the  acre  within  the  twelve  months. 

It  is  an  exceptional  climate  and  an  exceptional  soil.  When 
all  their  adaptations  are  fully  understood,  when  irrigation  is 
employed  in  due  measure  and  at  suitable  times,  the  very 
perfection  of  husbandry  seems  attainable  in  this  sheltered 
and  well  furnished  valley.  It  is  far  enough  north  for  the 
best  products  of  the  temperate  zone,  while  local  peculiarities 
and  the  warm  Pacific  winds  so  shield  it  from  extremes  of 
cold  that  many  valuable  tropical  plants  may  be  cultivated 
with  great  success.  Thus  many  vegetable  products  that  else- 
where grow  far  apart  may  be  found  here  side  by  side  and 
furnish  an  unusual  number  of  alternatives  to  the  cultivator, 
as  also  an  extent  of  possible  pecuniary  result  which  very  few 
regions  in  the  world  can  parallel.  Oranges,  lemons,  olives, 
the  most  valuable  and  prolific  nut  trees,  cotton,  rice,  and 
other  rare  products  flourish  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  north- 
ern apple,  pear,  peach,  plum,  cherry,  and  the  best  grains, 
grasses  and  roots. 

Northern  California  resembles  Oregon,  being  higher  in 
latitude  and  also  in  elevation  above  the  sea;  but  a  hundred 
miles  above  San  Francisco  semi-tropical  conditions  become 
noticeable.  The  lower  Sacramento  valley  and  much  of  the 
San  Joaquin  form  the  lowest  parts  of  this  great  basin  and 
have  received  the  largest  quantities  of  fine  rich  earth  from 
the  surrounding  hills  and  mountains.  It  has  the  general 
character  of  a  vast  level,  or  gracefully  undulating  plain,  of 
39 


610  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

which  12,000,000  acres,  at  least,  are  capable  of  being  made 
beyond  measure  productive  of  the  most  valuable,  and  many 
very  rare,  fruits  and  vegetables.  It  has  but  two  seasons — the 
wet  and  dry.  In  its  natural  condition  during,  and  for  some 
months  after,  the  wet  season  it  was  covered  with  verdure, 
flowers  and  fruits;  but,  as  the  hot  season  advanced  and  the 
moisture  evaporated,  most  of  the  beauty  disappeared  and  the 
vast  plain  lay  bare,  parched  and  dusty  under  the  burning  sun. 
The  well-watered  nooks,  the  uplands  and  some  stretches  of 
forest  still  preserved  herbage  for  the  stock  of  the  mission 
priests  and  the  Spanish  rancheros;  but  the  sheltered  valley, 
especially  in  the  dry  years,  was  an  inhospitable  desert. 

This  is  being  gradually  changed  under  cultivation,  and 
especially  by  irrigation.  Yet,  scarcely  five  million  acres 
in  the  whole  State  are  under  the  plow,  although  somewhat 
more  is  enclosed,  and  most  of  the  area  serves  the  purposes 
of  the  stock  raiser  at  some  season  of  the  year.  In  time, 
the  large  farms  will  be  cut  up  into  many  smaller  ones,  all  the 
arable  land  will  be  utilized,  groves  of  nut  trees,  orchards, 
vineyards  and  constantly-growing  crops  will  cover  the  plain; 
the  climate  will  be  improved,  more  or  less,  rapid  evaporation 
will  be  largely  prevented,  and  more  moisture  will  enter  into 
the  production  of  green  foliage,  grasses,  roots  and  succulent 
fruit;  cooling  summer  showers  may,  perhaps,  become  fre- 
quent and  beauty  and  comfort  will  be  dispersed  over  the  gen- 
eral surface  of  the  most  charming  large  valley  in  the  world. 
To  reap  all  the  possible  advantages  nature  has  here  fur- 
nished to  man,  in  their  fullest  measure,  will  require  vast  and 
diligent  and  wisely-applied  labor  for  generations,  perhaps, 
and  immense  outlays  of  capital,  if  the  work  be  hurried;  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  magnificent  results  will  be  ul- 
timately gained.  At  present,  little  more  than  enough  has 
been  done  to  show  what  future  possibilities  are.  The  vast 
wheat  fields  annually  skim  the  surface  soil  of  the  broad  valley 
plains,  during  the   winter  and  spring,   of  the  cream  of  their 


THE  CHANGES  TO  BE  WROUGHT.  611 

vegetable  wealth,  leaving  them  to  lie  bare  in  the  hot  sun  of 
summer.  Under  this  effort  to  gain  the  most  comprehensive 
results  with  the  least  labor  tlie  production  averages  less  to 
the  acre  as  the  surface  salts  entering  into  the  growth  of  wheat 
are  withdrawn.  Gradually,  irrigated  gardens  and  orchards, 
fields  of  vegetables,  grasses  and  grains  increase;  but  they 
cover,  as  yet,  an  inconsiderable  part  of  the  surface.  Less 
than  half  a  million  acres  in  all  California  were  irrigated  at 
the  beginning  of  1880;  and  less  than  seven  hundred  thousand 
people  inhabited  its  broad  surface.  Japan  has  about  80,000 
square  miles  of  surface — half  as  much  as  California — from 
which  33,000,000  people  are  supported.  All  those  parts  of 
California  which  are  fairly  watered,  or  which  can  be  irrigated, 
have,  probably,  both  in  the  soil  and  climate,  a  much  larger  ca- 
pacity for  production  than  the  Asiatic  island  empire. 

It  seems  likely  that,  in  the  future,  almost  all  the  so-called 
•'  deserts"  will  be  reclaimed  and  made  to  support  a  large  pop- 
ulation. A  vast  amount  of  moisture  is  lodged  on  the  moun- 
tains in  winter  which  melts  and  finds  its  way  into  the  val- 
leys to  be  evaporated  in  the  hot  air  or  swallowed  by  the  loose 
debris  of  the  mountains  which  covers  the  lower  rocks.  There 
will  be  less  evaporation  as  cultivation  covers  larger  areas  and 
more  moisture  will  be  left  on  the  surface  for  use.  Artesian 
wells  will  bring  up  the  subterranean  supplies  for  irrigation; 
this  source  of  moisture,  added  to  such  supplies  as  are  now 
found  in  mountain  streams  and  rivers,  will  render  ever  larger 
tracts,  now  too  hot  and  dry  for  vegetation,  reclaimable. 

The  parts  of  California  south   and  southeast  of  the  great 
valley  that  furnishes  its  largest  body  of  available  agricultural 
lands  are  less  favored  in  the  amount  of  moisture  they  receive. 
They  form  part  of,  or  are  closely  connected  with,  the  "  Colo-  . 
rado  Desert,"  so-called. 

The  great  plain  of  Los  Angeles  is  separated  on  the  north 
from  the  California  valley  by  the  union  of  spurs  from  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  Coast  Ranges.     A  southern  continuation  of  tlia 


6l^  THK   PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

Sierra  forms  its  eastern  boundary,  though  lower  than  the 
northern  range,  and  various  other  elevations  give  it  the  gen- 
eral cliaracter  of  a  basin  open  to  the  Pacific  on  the  west,  with 
easy  passes  toward  tlie  desert  on  the  south  and  southeast.  It 
receives  much  moisture  from  the  Pacific,  and  has  many  streams 
from"  its  mountain  boundaries  which  furnish  the  conditions 
of  irrigation  to  a  considerable  extent.  It  is  decidedly  more 
tropical  in  climate  and  productions  tlian  the  San  Joaquin 
valley.  Irrigation  has  been  tested  in  it  with  great  success, 
and  promises  to  render  it  almost  a  paradise. 

The  Pacific  border  west  of  the  Coast  Eange,  and  the  valleys 
and  slopes  within  those  mountains  on  the  western  side,  have 
more  abundant  moisture  in  the  summer  season  from  ocean 
fog  and  mist,  although  it  is  the  periodical  southwest  winds 
that  bring  rain-bearing  clouds.  North  of  San  Francisco  the 
Coast  Range,  for  the  most  part,  extends  to  the  shore,  with 
some  breaks  into  valleys,  bays  and  rivers.  The  mountains 
form  a  high,  broken,  heavily-wooded  region  far  inland.  Much 
valuable  timber,  some  excellent  farming  land,  and  grass}'  up- 
lands and  high  slopes  for  pasturage  of  stock  are  found  here. 
The  lower  part  of  this  region  above  San  Francisco  Bay  has 
been  found  excellent  for  grape  culture,  and  dairying  is  spe- 
cially successful  in  some  parts. 

The  coast  south  of  the  Golden  Gate  contains  many  counties 
where  moderate  farms  are  especiall}'  successful.  Many  of  its 
nooks,  valleys  and  slopes  may  be  made  an  agricultural  para- 
dise with  more  ease  and  less  outlay  of  labor  or  capital  than 
the  inner  valley  or  the  Los  Angeles  plain.  Tem])orarily,  the 
bane  of  this  region,  and  of  California  generally,  perhaps,  is 
in  the  large  estates,  the  habit  of  acquiring  which  was  inher- 
ited by  the  Anglo-American  immigrants  from  their  Mexican 
predecessors.  In  the  early  days  wide  ranges  were  considered 
necessary  for  cattle,  there  was  abui\dance  of  unoccupied  land, 
and  grants  of  ''  ranches"  many  square  leagues  in  extent  were 
easily  obtained  from  the  Mexican  government.  These  Mexican 


'«!/,^..' 


LARGE    FARMS    LESS   SUCCESSFUL    IN   THE    END.  613 

grants  were  secured  by  Americans  from  the  original  grant- 
ees and,  with  the  abundance  of  gold  that  was  soon  gathered 
in  vast  accumulations  in  the  hands  of  the  shrewd  and  enter- 
prising, large  purchases  were  made.  In  the  coast  regions, 
especially,  these  large  ranches  occupied  lands  that  should 
liave  been  many  times  subdivided,  and  it  is  "seen  to  be.more 
and  more  undesirable,  as  population  increases,  in  the  State 
genei'ally. 

This,  however,  is  an  evil  that  will  remedy  itself  in  time. 
The  amazing  productiveness  of  Alfalfa,  or  Chilian  clover, 
and  its  great  value  for  stock,  will  presently  enable  small  farm- 
ers to  raise  stock  by  soiling,  or  cultivating  their  food,  much 
more  cheaply  than  the  owners  of  a  hundred  thousand  acres 
can,  and  so  drive  them  to  sell  their  lands.  The  law  of  agri- 
cultural progress  in  America  does  not,  in  the  long  run,  favor 
large  accumulations  of  land  in  single  hands  or  under  one 
management.  Where  this  has  occurred,  under  favor  of  excep- 
tional or  temporary  circumstances,  later  tendencies  have  in- 
variably discountenanced  their  retention.  It  is  the  personal 
diligence,  the  careful,  minute  attention  of  the  owner  of  a 
moderate  number  of  acres  that  has  proved  most  successful 
in  the  end. 

America  has  developed  her  magnificent  resources  with  un- 
'  exampled  rapidity,  chiefly  because  enterprise,  being  tinembar- 
rassed  by  artificial  restrictions  and  the  tenderness  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  favorites,  was  obliged  to  stand  on  its  own  merits. 
With  exception  of  the  Blacks  up  to  the  Civil  War,  the  law 
did  not  contemplate  the  subjection  of  one  class  to  serve  the 
interests  of  another.  If  there  were  temporary  monopolies  it 
was  because  they  had  a  degree  of  usefulness  for  the  time 
being.  When  they  ceased  their  service  to  the  public  or  to 
their  special  region  adversaries  would  spring  up  on  every 
hand.  They  had  no  outside  artificial  protection;  they  must 
defend  themselves  by  their  own  resources,  and  the  greater 
their  tax  on  the  public — that  is,  the  more  complete  their  suc- 
cess— the  more  vigorous  and  numerous  their  enemies. 


C14  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

Thus  the  rise  of  territorial  magnates  such  as  afflicted  Asia 
aiid  Europe  in  the  Old  World  and  Spanish  or  French  colonies 
in  the  New  was  not  possible  among  Anglo-Americans.  Cap- 
ital invested  in  estates  too  large  for  the  welfare  of  the  region 
and  people  soon  melts  away,  or  is  withdrawn  under  the  stress 
of  free  competition  by  small  farmers  as  the  country  fills  up. 
Their  persistent  labor,  energy  and  intelligence  renders  these 
investments  unprofitable. 

California  is  a  strange  and  wonderful  land  to  the  new  comer. 
It  has  remarkable  features  of  surface,  soil,  climate,  and  situa- 
tion, and  these  are  of  such  a  character  as  to  secure  it  a  future 
agricultural  and  commercial  prosperity  the  compass  of  which 
it  seems  difficult  to  exaggerate.  All  over  the  Pacific  Slope 
nature  has  conducted  the  most  various  chemical  operations  on 
a  magnificent  scale.  A  large  number  of  these  chemical  pro- 
cesses springing  from  the  activity  of  volcanic  forces  have 
served  to  enrich  the  valleys  and  plains.  All  the  salts  that  en- 
ter into  vegetable  growth  have  been  brewed  in  the  mountains, 
lodged  in  the  rocks,  and  washed  down  to  the  lowlands.  The 
regionsof  sand,  even,  seem  to  produce  almost  as  rich  a  vegeta- 
tion, if  only  sufficiently  watered,  as  the  best  soils  elsewhere. 
San  Francisco  is  located  on  a  sand  bank,  and  when  wind-mills 
are  employed  to  raise  water  in  abundance  the  gardens  display 
extraordinary  fertility. 

The  irrigation  of  land  here  is  equivalent  to  the  use  of  fer- 
tilizers elsewhere.  It  seems  that  the  materials  i-eqnired  for 
vegetable  growth  exist  in  great  abundance  in  the  jnilverized 
rock  and  volcanic  ashes  that  have  been  carried  to  the  lower 
levels.  The  chief  wealth  of  the  prairies  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  is  in  the  accumulations  of  vegetable  loam  formed  by 
the  annual  decay  of  plants  during  innumerable  centuries, 
which  forms  a  vast  storehouse  of  plant  food;  but  the  Pacific 
coast  and  valleys  possess  these  stores  in  their  original  form, 
crystallized,  but  readily  dissolved  by  water  and  taken  up  by 
vegetation  when  there  is  sufficient  moisture.  During  the  long 


THE   BURNING    QUESTION    OF    THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE.  615 

ages  of  the  past  the  vegetation  that  lias  sprung  up  in  the  wet 
season  has  in  very  large  part  been  burned  to  powder  in  the 
hot  sun  and  glowing  air  of  the  dry  season,  but  the  mineral 
constituents  have  re-crystallized  and  remain  still  for  use  when 
dissolved  again  by  rain  or  irrigation. 

Sometimes  there  are  vast  accumulations  of  salt,  alkali, 
gypsum  or  other  materials  employed  by  the  Vital  Force  in 
building  up  vegetable  forms.  This  is  where  the  waters  col- 
lecting it  lodged  and  evaporated,  not  being  able  to  bear  them 
further.  The  alkali  deserts,  when  aired  and  washed  by  culti- 
vation and  a  flow  of  water,  become  extremely  fertile.  The 
Colorado  desert,  in  the  southeastern  part  of  California,  has 
shown  this  extraordinary  fertility  when  irrigated  and  culti- 
vated. Nearly  all  the  basins,  valleys,  and  plateaus  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  System  seem  equally  fertile  when  they  are 
not  bare  rock,  and  when  water  is  obtainable  in  due  quantities 
and  at  suitable  times.  Montana,  Idaho,  eastern  Washington 
and  Oregon,  Utah,  Nevada,  Arizona  and  much  of  Colorado 
and  New  Mexico  have,  thus,  an  extraordinary  capacity  for 
agricultural  production,  not  merely  in  spite  of  their  general 
covering  of  mountain  ranges  and  wealth  of  rocks,  but  even 
by  virtue  of  the  rocks  themselves,  whea  pulverized 
and  their  dust  sufficiently  moistened.  The  volcanic  forces 
which  have  operated  upon  a  scale  so  vast  in  geological  times 
have  notonly  furnished  boundless  material  for  mining  enter- 
prise but  concentrated  the  requisites  of  food  production  in  the 
rocks  and  lava  which  atmospheric  decomposition  and  the 
storms  and  floods  of  countless  thousands  of  years  have  re» 
duced  to  powder  on  the  plateaus,  along  the  streams  and  slopes 
and  in  the  valleys  and  basins. 

The  burning  question,  therefore,  of  the  Pacific  Slope  is  its 
water  supply.  There  is,  as  yet,  very  much  farming  done  in 
most  of  the  sections  without  irrigation  at  all.  Utah  and  Ari- 
zona are,  for  the  most  part,  dependent  for  crops  on  moisture 
supplied  in  that  way,  although  Arizona  has,  much  of  it,  two 


616  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

rainy  seasons  in  the  year;  the  upper  interior,  as  Idaho,  Mon- 
tana, etc.,  have  employed  it  very  little;  and,  of  the  3,713,525 
acres  reported  by  the  Surveyor  General  of  California,  in  1879. 
only  255,04:6  acres — a  little  more  than  one-fourteenth  part — 
were  irrigated,  and  yet  28,640,000  bushels  of  wheat  were  pro- 
duced, besides  about  18,000,000  bushels  of  other  grain,  nearly 
8,000,000  gallons  of  wine,  over  15,000,000  pounds  of  flax, 
about  800,000  tons  of  hay,  3,000,000  pounds  of  hops  and 
268,000  tons  of  potatoes.  The  fruit  crop  was  valued  at  nearly 
four  million  dollars,  and  consideralile  surfaces  were  covered 
with  vines  and  fruit  trees  not  yet  in  bearing.  The  entire  an- 
nual income  of  the  State  from  the  soil,  stock  and  mines  was 
about  one  hundred  million  dollars,  of  which  the  metallic  pro- 
duct was  about  one-fifth. 

The  proportion  of  land  cultivated  is  not  very  much  more 
than  one-fiftieth,  while  very  near  half  is  susceptiljle  of  use  by 
irrigation.  Comparatively  small  parts  of  Nevada,  Utah  and 
Arizona  are  capable  of  immediate  agricultural  use  by  such  ir- 
rigation as  is  now  possible  from  mountain  streams;  yet  that 
part — not  perhaps  over  a  tenth  or  twelfth  of  the  whole — is 
extremely  prolific.  A  farm  of  twenty  acres  demands  and  re- 
wards the  labor  bestowed  on  one  hundred  in  the  Great  Valley, 
while  the  rocky  surfaces  are  rich  in  metallic  wealth,  will  em- 
ploy a  large  population  at  no  distant  day,  and  supply  a  con- 
stantly-growing home  market,  enabling  the  producer  himself 
to  realize  all  the  profit  from  the  abundant  proceeds  of  his 
few  acres. 

The  cultivated  areas  are  constantly  increasing,  although 
with  slow  moderation  compared  with  the  vast  annual  enlarge- 
ment seen  in  the  newer  borders  of  the  Mississippi  VaUey. 
Mining  attracts  large  numbers,  and  the  enterprises  of  com- 
merce, manufactures,  railroads  and  trade  have  gathered  much 
more  than  half  the  population  into  the  cities  or  to  the  mines. 
Nearly  half  the  population  of  the  State  is  to  found  in  and 
immediately  around  San  Francisco.     Fortunes  have  been  so 


CULTIVATION    WILL    SOLVE    THE    QUESTION.  617 

often  gained  rapidly  from  these  sources  that  comparatively 
few  seek  the  slower  but  more  certain  road  to  competence  and 
moderate  wealth  by  soliciting  the  soil.  This,  however,  was 
to  be  expected,  and  is  but  a  temporary  phase  in  the  young 
life  of  California. 

It  is  from  the  climatic  effect  of  this  increasing  cultivation 
that  the  more  abundant  water  supply  of  the  future  is  to  be 
largely  drawn.  A  study  of  the  rain-fall  on  the  "plains," 
west  of  the  Missouri  River,  during  tlie  first  twenty  years 
followiuir  the  beginning  of  extensive  settlement,  showed  a 
somewhat  startling  annual  increase  of  precipitated  moisture. 
A  line  marking  the  western  limit  of  a  certain  measure  of 
rain-fall  constantly  traveled  westward,  and  rain  guages  at  a 
permanent  spot  indicated  continuous  increase.  The  lament- 
able droughts  of  the  early  years  of  settlement  gradually 
faded  out  of  the  memory  of  the  community  till  apprehen- 
sion of  their  return  ceased  to  disturb  the  farmers. 

A  like  experience,  as  to  increase  of  water  on  the  surface, 
has  been  noted  in  Utah,  in  the  region  of  the  most  numerous 
Mormon  settlements.  The  lands  on  which  they  located, 
built  their  capital  city,  and  made  their  farms,  were  grim  and 
desert-like,  bearing  substantially  the  same  appearance  as  the 
most  of  the  Utah  basin  and  the  Colorado  desert  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  They  had,  in  1S65,  reclaimed  about  150,000  acres 
by  means  of  irrigation,  and  turned  the  desert  into  verdant 
groves,  productive  fields  and  unequalled  gardens.  A  hun- 
dred thousand  or  more  acres  were  added  to  the  reclaimed 
desert  in  the  next  ten  years.  Wheat  produced  50  and  60 
bushels  to  the  acre  and  other  results  were  in  proportion.  Ten 
or  twelve  acres  gave  full  occupation  and  income  to  a  man 
through  the  year,  for  he  was  able  to  raise  two  crops,  at  least, 
from  the  same  ground  in  the  twelve  months. 

The  use  of  water  at  the  right  times,  and  in  the  proportions 
which  experience  soon  suggested,  had  the  effect  of  fertilizing 
this  volcanic  soil,  so  well  supplied  with  crystallized  salts  use- 


618  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

ful  to  vegetation.  They  opened  the  earth  and  kept  it  light 
and  porous  enough  to  absorb  moisture  readily,  shielding  it 
from  the  scorching  sun  and  heat  by  the  tliick,  cool  verdure 
of  growing  plants;  tree  planting,  which  likewise  cooled  and 
protected  the  earth,  attracted  clouds  and  affected  the  elec- 
trical state  of  the  atmosphere;  probably,  also,  the  effect 
of  railroads  on  atmospheric  conditions  was  imj^ortant.  A 
great  change  in  the  level  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake  has  been 
produced  by  these  means.  That,  at  least,  seems  a  fair  con- 
clusion from  the  facts  observed  here  and  elsewliere. 

It  is  likely,  therefore,  that  the  careful  cultivation  of  all 
lands  where  water  for  irrigation  is  attainable  from  streams, 
wells,  or  deep  borings  will  greatly  enlarge  the  water  sujjply. 
Vast  quantities  of  water  fall  in  the  mountains,  as  snow, 
which  mostly  melts  and  seeks  the  valleys  and  deserts  to  be 
evaporated  in  the  air  glowing  with  the  heat  of  the  sun  and 
of  the  bare  soil.  This  rises  to  a  great  height  to  be  wafted  by 
the  winds  to  a  cooler  region  where  it  may  be  again  condensed. 
The  progress  of  cultivation  promises  to  arrest  this  waste  of 
an  element  so  invaluable  to  the  .agriculturist,  to  hold  the 
water  on  the  surface  for  use,  and  to  considerably  change  tlie 
character  of  the  climate.  Lakes  and  streams  will  multiply 
in  all  this  interior  region,  the  air  will  be  cooler,  clouds  will 
form,  and  occasional  refreshing  showers  will  fall  in  sum- 
mer. Tiie  conditions  of  irrigation  will  thus  constantly  im- 
prove, its  effect  will  be  eidianced  from  slower  evaporation, 
and  all  the  surfaces  covered  with  soft  earth,  or  material  for 
soil,  may  be  utilized  even  where  it  is  now  impossible. 

From  Salt  Lake  City  to  the  borders  of  Britisli  Columbia  it 
is  nearly  a  thousand  miles,  and  about  as  much  to  the  Gulf  of 
California  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  River.  An  immense 
total  of  land  is  found  in  this  distance  of  two  thousand  miles 
which  may  be  reclaimed  by  the  farmer  and  made  to  produce, 
beyond  his  former  experience  in  the  East,  all  the  grains, 
fruits  and  vegetables  useful  to  civilized  man.     An  immense 


PEOQEESS    OF    EAILEOADS    ON    THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE.  619 

coiuaization  awaits  the  progress  of  ra'lroads.  Activity  in 
this  direction  began  slowly  to  gather,  in  largo  plans  and  local 
undertakings,  about  1S70,  soon  after  the  trans-continental 
railroad  joined  the  extreme  East  and  the  Center  to  the  ex- 
treme "West.  The  great  depression  of  business  from  1874  to 
1S79  made  progress  in  actual  building  cautious  and  slow. 
After  1876  it  gained  yearly  by  some  hundreds  of  miles;  but, 
in  a  region  with  so  many  widely  distant  parts,  a  thousand 
miles  of  railway  distributed  in  many  different  fractions 
seemed  of  small  consequence.  Yet  these  fractions  assisted 
powerfully  in  gathering  the  nuclei  of  future  States.  A  rail- 
road slowly  advanced  from  the  Central  Pacific  in  Utah 
toward  Montana  through  a  maze  of  mountains.  Others 
advanced  down  Utah  toward  the  Colorado  River,  and  among 
the  mountains  of  the  Sierra  in  the  State  of  Nevada. 

Oregon  commenced  several  lines  of  her  future  railroad 
system  toward  the  south  and  east  from  the  Columbia;  Wash- 
ington made  beginnings  from  Puget  Sound;  the  Northern 
Pacific  pushed  westward  of  the  Missouri  River  toward  the 
Yellowstone;  Colorado  pushed  her  network  of  roads  among 
her  mining  regions,  and  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande,  in 
New  Mexico,  was  joined  to  those  of  the  Arkansas,  the  Mis- 
souri and  Mississippi.  California,  meanwhile,  was  not  for- 
getful of  her  right  to  leadership  in  great  undertakings,  and 
built  many  hundreds  of  miles  of  road  north  and  south  from 
San  Francisco  and  Sacramento.  The  whole  length  of  her 
magnificent  valley  was  at  length  spanned  b}'  iron  rails;  the 
coast  counties  at  the  south  of  the  Golden  Gate  were  made 
accessible,  the  great  Los  Angeles  plain  was  traversed,  con- 
necting it  with  San  Francisco  above  and  with  the  Col- 
orado River  and  Arizona  at  Ft.  Yuma.  Thus  the  great  lines 
of  railway  in  California — its  spinal  cord  and  some  collateral 
nerves — were  fairly  complete  before  1880.  It  remained  to 
finish  the  vast  outline  within  the  mountains  and  connect  the 
East  and  the  two  sides  of  the  Slope,  six  to  eight  hundred 


620  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

miles,  by  crossings,  to  marry  the  Colorado  with  the  Rio 
Grande  and  the  Southern  Mississippi,  tlie  Columbia  with  the 
Northern  Missouri,  and  then  to  furnish  the  various  collateral 
roads  required  by  the  exigencies  of  localities  favorable  for 
mining  and  settlement.  Tlie  work  of  massive  development 
would  then  be  fairly  provided  for. 

It  was  a  stuj)endous  activity,  and  required  a  vast  outlay,  ti> 
make  connections  with  the  body  of  the  country  and  so  many 
various  points  within  the  vast  uplift  that  lay  between  the 
Great  Valley  and  the  western  ocean  while  business  was  em- 
barrassed, enterprise  comparatively  dull  and  the  country  in 
what  was  said  to  be  a  "  financial  collapse."  Wliat,  then,  will 
it  be  when  the ""  depression  "  has  receded  far  into  the  vanish- 
ing past  and  the  vast  dawning  mining  enterprises  have  added 
another  thousand  million  dollars  to  the  floating  capital  of  the 
world  ? 

Mining  interests  are  the  great  attraction  and  stimulus  to 
this  immense  outlay  in  the  construction  of  railrfiads  througii 
this  rude  mountain  desert,  as  it  seemed  at  first.  California 
was  the  Land  of  Gold — the  Eldorado  more  wonderful  than 
the  Me.xico  of  Cortez  or  the  Peru  of  Pizarro. 

No  other  region  has  shown  a  like  quantity  of  separated 
gold  mingled  with  the  sand  of  its  streams  and  with  the  pow- 
dered rock  at  the  foot  of  its  mountains.  It  required  almost 
no  science  or  capital,  only  the  perseverance  of  unskilled  men 
to  obtain  it  by  unwearied  labor.  This  surface  supply  was 
nearly  exhausted  in  a  few  years,  so  diligent  was  the  search 
by  eager  multitudes. 

The  amount  of  ready  money  it  put  into  circulation,  at  a 
time  when  the  railroad  and  telegraph  and  the  multitudinous 
inventions  of  the  century  were  waiting  to  serve  modern  civil- 
ization, made  itself  felt  in  the  most  remarkable  way  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  English  mines  and  factories  and  com- 
merce greeted  its  appearance  with  a  sudden  vast  enlargement. 
The  lonely,  peaceful  prairies,  forests  and  plains  of  the  Great 


CONVALESCENCE    OF    CALIFORNIA    FEOM    THE   GOLD    FEVER.  621 

Yalley  proclaimed  its  value  bv  a  sudden  extension  of  railroad 
track  tens  of  thousands  of  miles,  by  the  scream  of  the  engine 
and  the  roar  of  long  trains  tilled  with  passengers  and  mer- 
chandise. The  world  of  industry  started  into  comprehensive 
action  and  quite  changed  the  face  of  society  and  all  the  for- 
mer conditions  of  life  by  its  new-born  skill  and  powerful 
agents. 

The  Civil  War  and  the  want  of  rapid  and  cheap  communi- 
cation between  the  East  and  the  West  gave  California  time 
to  convalesce  from  the  gold  fever  and  measure  the  value  of 
her  other  resources.  Her  soil  and  climate  were  found  to  be 
sources  of  wealth  much  more  extensive  and  useful  than  even 
the  gold  of  the  foot-hills  and  Sierras  and  New  York  and 
London  might  find  many  things  to  envy  in  the  position  and 
prospective  gi'catness  of  her  commercial  metropolis.  The 
results  of  the  placer  mining  dwindled  to  comparative  insignif- 
icance and  the  .'^kill  and  machinery  required  for  quartz  min- 
ing demanded  much  time  and  aid  from  railroads  to  become 
effective.  Meantime  the  grain  and  fruit  and  stock,  the  man- 
ufactures and  commerce  of  California  increased  her  income 
far  beyond  that  of  the  most  prosperous  mining  years  with  a 
certainty  of  indefinite  growth  for  perhaps  all  time  to  come. 
Certainly  no  one  could  foresee  a  necessary  limit  to  this  en- 
largement. 

Gradually  machinery  and  skilled  laborers  for  the  deeper 
and  moi'e  difficult  search  for  gold  in  the  heart  of  the  rocks 
were  gathered.  California  did  not  prove  to  possess  the  rich- 
est deposits  of  the  precious  metals.  Her  income  from  this 
source  varied  from  sixteen  or  seventeen  to  twenty -five  mil- 
lions a  3'ear,  while  Nevada,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Sierra, 
sometimes  produced  almost  twice  as  much  from  a  single  mine 
in  a  year.  But  California  had  the  advantage  of  the  first  great 
discoveries  of  gold,  of  almost  the  best  commercial  position 
in  the  world — at  least  the  world  that  was  to  be,  on  the  vast 
Pacific — of  a  soil  and  climate  concentrating  as  much  of  per- 


622  THE   PACIFIC   SLOPE. 

lection,  and  as  few  serious  or  permanent  drawbacks,  as  almost 
any  region  known  ;  she  had  the  commercial  and  trading 
metropolis  of  the  West  and  vast  capital.  The  gold  of 
Nevada  and  Arizona  benetitted  her  almost  as  much  as  if 
found  in  her  own  foot-hills.  San  Francisco  was  the  financial 
and  trading  capital  of  the  Pacific  Slope  and  the  great  markfet 
of  all  the  newer  i-egions. 

Quartz  mining  required  an  outlay  of  capital  and  was  car- 
ried on  with  a  difficulty  that  enabled  men  of  great  wealth 
and  shrewd  managers  to  get  possession  of  the  best  and  most 
profitable  mines  and  to  reap  almost  the  whole  of  the  golden 
harvest.  Yet  they  built  railroads,  employed  multitudes  of 
men  whose  support  gave  an  excellent  local  market  to  cultiva- 
tors of  the  soil  and  greatly  encouraged  agricultural  develop- 
ment. Their  millions  gathered  from  the  mines,  or  from 
successful  speculation  in  mining  stocks,  did  not  lie  useless  or 
unfruitful  for  others  in  the  vaults  of  the  banks.  It  was 
invested  far  and  wide,  wherever  there  was  promise  of  rapid 
and  successful  growth,  in  all  kinds  of  enterprises.  These  in- 
vestments might  give  the  greater  part  of  the  sudden  profits 
of  success  to  the  financial  kings;  bnt,  like  other  kings,  their 
interests  were  identified  with  the  prosperity  of  their  subjects 
and  dominions,  so  that  their  resources  and  power  were  the 
aid  and  stimulus  of  a  wide  circle.  The  millions  of  gold  also 
became  the  security  for,  and  gave  value  to,  many  more  mil- 
lions of  currency  and  bonds  which,  received  as  money,  fur- 
nished the  instruments  of  a  wide-reaching  industrial  activity. 

If  the  gold  and  silver,  or  the  larger  amounts  of  paper  to 
which  they  gave  the  value  of  money,  flowed  away  eastward  or 
to  Europe  they  still  stimulated  general  enterprise  and  sup- 
ported vast  plans  that  reacted  advantageously,  in  many  forms, 
on  the  welfare  of  the  mining  and  coast  regions  west  of  the 
Great  Valley. 

Thus,  individual  or  corporate  success,  even  while  monopo- 
lizing the  products  of  mining  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  became 


.^ 


HOW    MINING    AIDS    OTHEE   ENTEKPEI8E8.  623 

an  indirect,  but  very  great,  advantage  to  its  agricultural  pros- 
perity, helped  to  develop  all  interests  and  furnish  the  condi- 
ditions  of  success  to  the  tiller  of  its  marvelous  soil.  The 
mass  of  the  people  in  California  and  other  parts  of  this  Slope 
have  been  benefitted  only,  or  chiefly,  in  this  indirect  way, 
from  the  first.  The  precious  metals  are  said  to  cost  more  to 
obtain  than  they  really  yield  in  value.  They  are  not  absolute 
wealth,  only  the  representatives  of  it — or  the  soliti  basis  of 
that  which  more  often  passes  for  money — and  the  chief  bene- 
fit of  their  increase  is  in  furnishing  the  floating  or  free  capital 
of  the  business  world  wherewith  it  inaugurates  and  carries  to 
success  enterprises  of  real  and  permanent  value  to  mankind. 
The  more  the  metals  increase  the  larger  the  great  and  fruit- 
ful enterprises  of  business  become. 

Solid  and  enduring  wealth  consists  in  that  which  is  perma- 
nently useful  to  man.  Its  soil,  its  climate,  its  position,  are 
far  more  valuable  to  California  than  its  gold.  So  the  rich 
powder  of  the  volcanic  rocks  in  the  basins,  valleys  and  pla- 
teaus of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  holds  its  best  values  to 
the  most  of  its  people.  The  mines  are  valuable  to  them  for 
the  railroads  they  cause  to  be  built,  the  markets  they  help  to 
create  and  the  abundance  of  free  capital  they  provide.  The 
mines  are  therefore  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  all  who  settle  among  the  mountains  or  along  the  coast. 

It  has  become  very  evident,  as  the  railroad  system  of  this 
slope  has  developed,  that  an  inconceivable  mass  of  metallic 
wealth  lies  concealed  in  the  volcanic  ranges,  awaiting  the 
labors  of  the  miner  to  free  it  from  its  long  confinement. 
Nevada,  Utah,  Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  wherever  thoroughly  explored,  have 
furnished  hints  of  the  most  magnificent  stores  possible  to  be 
conceived.  One  vein  has  no  sooner  been  exhausted  in  its 
more  accessible  parts  than  multitudes  have  proved  still  more 
inviting.  The  railroad  system  was  pushed  toward  the  com- 
pletion of  its  great  outline  and  more  important  branches  more 


034  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

rapidly  in  1879,  rendering  further  raining  operations  easy  in 
many  fresh  localities  and  the  idea  of  the  future  treasures  to  he 
secured  became  more  definite  and  tangiltle.  Arizona  and 
Colorado,  particularly,  made  significant  revelations  of  prob- 
able inexhaustible  fountains  of  treasure.  New  Mexico  and 
Utah  adjoining  afford,  perliaps,  equal  promise.  Idaho,  west- 
ern Montana  and  eastern  Washington  and  Oregon  are  a  little 
less  accessible  to  the  facilities  of  extended  and  thorough 
trial,  although  their  first  fruits,  obtained  under  very  great 
difficulties,  count  by  scores  and  even  hundreds  of  millions. 

The  whole  surface  of  the  West,  therefore,  contains  im- 
measurable values.  Where  there  is  soil  which  may  be  irri- 
gated a  few  acres  are  often  as  valuable  to  the  possessor 
for  what  may  be  grown  on  them  as  two,  three  or  four  times 
as  much  elsewhere;  on  the  plateaus  where  the  soft  covering 
of  the  rocks  is  thin,  and  water  not  abundant,  the  evaporation 
from  the  valleys  is  collected  by  the  cooler  air  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  support  grasses  on  which  innumerable  flocks 
and  herds  may  be  nourished  and  fattened.  Higher  up  on 
the  mountain  sides — too  high  for  agriculture,  but  within 
reach  of  still  more  moisture  from  the  clouds  and  melting 
snows — millions  of  acres  of  timber  are  found.  Where  none 
of  these  uses  are  possible,  there  are,  for  the  most  part,  most 
valuable  minerals  to  be  obtained,  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  miners  and  employes  will,  in  due  time,  go  there  to  be 
fed  and  furnish  the  market  for  the  fortunate  farmer,  gardener 
and  herdsman. 

Where  shall  the  intending  emigrant  to  this  Slopedirect  his 
attention?  What  region  has  the  largest  and  surest  promise? 
These  are  questions  quite  unanswerable  when  competitive 
merits  are  studied.  If  a  local  study  is  undertaken,  such  as 
necessarily  occupies  the  inhabitants  of  any  special  section, 
each  in  turn  will  seem  best,  when  merits  and  not  disadvantages 
are  considered.  The  special  disadvaiitages  of  each  are  always 
found  to  be  counterbalanced  bj'  some  corresponding  advan- 


^^- 


WHERE    AN    EMIGKANT    SHOULD    LOCATE.  625 

tage  that  would  be  lost  by  removal.  Arizona,  southern  Cali- 
fornia and  the  great  Utah  Basin  are  necessarily  warm  in  sum- 
mer in  the  lower  parts,  conhned  valleys  or  vast  shadeless 
plains;  but  they  have  much  "ozone" — penetrating  stimulus 
and  purity  of  air — that  considerably  balances  the  discomfort 
of  the  heat,  while  other  parts  of  the  year  are  charming. 

The  mountainous  and  northern  regions  have  a  delightful  sum- 
mer, abundance  of  oxygen,  and  severe  winter  cold.  Gold  or 
silver  are  almost  everywhere,  or  a  soil  much  more  valuable 
to  the  owner — as  a  rule — than  a  mine.  Rare  and  productive 
fruits  and  vegetables  are  a  specialty  of  warmer  regions,  more 
valuable  grains  and  extensive  advantages  for  stock  raising  of 
the  cooler.  Where  will  immediate  growth  and  the  best  mar- 
kets be  found?  Nearest  the  richest  mine  where  soil  and  water 
are  found  in  proper  measure.  That  may  be  successively 
transferred  to  a  thousand  points  over  a  territory  of  a  million 
square  miles  in  a  few  years.  San  Francisco  is  the  incontest- 
ible  emporium  now;  Portland  considers  herself  fairly  in  the 
way  of  becoming  a  rival  by  and  by,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
"Washington  look  for  the  possession  of  the  great  commercial 
metropolis  somewhere  on  Puget  Sound,  in  time.  Meanwhile 
large  cities — capital,  local,  and  railroad  centers — are  multiply- 
ing in  the  mountains  and  growing  in  the  basins  and  many  of 
the  valleys  all  over  the  interior.  It  is  difficult  to  make  a  spe- 
cific choice  but  for  specific  reasons,  and  he  who  carries  indus- 
try, determination  and  intelligence  in  his  own  character,  mind 
and  person  can  scarcely  locate  amiss.  It  is  a  truly  wonderful 
region  to  lie  so  near  the  vast  alluvial  Basin  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 
40 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

SETTLEMENT   OF   THE    PACIFIC    COAST — THE  VIGOROUS   CHAKACTEE 
OF   THE    PEOPLE. 

Rumors  of  states  and  cities  and  immense  collections  of  treas- 
ure reached  Cortez  soon  after  he  had  completed  the  conquest 
of  the  Aztecs  of  the  Mexican  plateau,  and  he  sent  expedition 
after  expedition  into  the  mysterious  wilds  within  or  near  the 
present  Territories  of  tlie  United  States.  All  these  failed 
more  or  less  completely,  and  Cortez  himself  did  little  better, 
though  he  confined  himself  to  explorations  about  the  Gulf  of 
California.  The  pearl  tisheries  on  its  coasts  proved  to  be  of 
value  and  made  some  fortunes;  yet  millions  were  spent 
by  Cortez  and  subsequent  vice-royal  rulers  of  New  Spair. 
without  much  serious  or  permanent  result,  except  some 
knowledge  of  the  geography  of  these  regions  and  of  the  coast 
lines  of  Upper  and  Lower  California.  It  was  more  than  sev- 
enty-five years  after  the  conquest  of  Mexico  when  the  Jesuits 
succeeded  in  establishing  a  mission  in  Lower  California,  or 
about  the  year  1700.  Gradually  these  multiplied  and  spread 
into  Upper  California,  and  in  the  course  of  a  century  a  few 
thousand  Mexicans  and  half-civilized  Indians  improved  the 
natural  pasturage  of  California  by  establishing  cattle  ranches, 
so  tliat  by  the  time  that  country  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Anglo-Americans,  in  1846,  20,000  Mexican  citizens  were 
spread  over  the  California  basin  and  along  the  coast. 

Tlie  mild  and  unenterprising  character  of  the  Indians  ren- 
dered them  fairly  suitable,  after  training  by  the  missionaries, 
to  supply  any  lack  of  Mexican  and  half-breed  servants  re- 
quired by  a  rude  society  in  raising  cattle.  The  civilized  pop- 
ulation had  none  of  the  ambition  and  energy  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans  of  the   Mississippi  Valley,  nor  of  the  unquench- 

626 


MEXICO,    AND    MEXICANS    IN    CALIFORNIA.  627 

able  thirst  for  gold  of  the  early  Spanish  immigrants  to  the 
New  World.  They  did  not  suspect  the  vast  deposits  of  pre- 
cious metals  along  the  streams  of  the  foot-hills  nor  the  rich 
veins  penetrating  the  rocks  of  the  mountains.  They  were 
themselves  even  more  averse  to  continuous  lahor  than  the  In- 
dians; but  had  they  known  how  rich  were  the  mines  they 
would  probably  have  obliged  the  Indians  to  work  them,  as  in 
Mexico  and  Peru.  The  Spanish- American  was  enfeebled  by 
the  wealth  wrested  in  such  quantities  from  the  organized 
communities  found  by  the  first  adventurers.  Obliging  the 
native  to  toil  for  him  he  retained  only  sufhcient  vigor  to 
keep  the  Indian  in  subjection,  and  manifested  little  progress- 
ivfeness.   • 

Mexico  became  nominally  a  republic  about  1822,  yet  self- 
goNernment  was  almost  unknown  and  incomprehensible  to 
much  the  greater  mass  of  the  people.  Little  difference 
e.vce])t  a  more  frequent  change  of  rulers  was  apparent  in  the 
distant  and  slightly  organized  dependency  of  California.  The 
central  authority  now  at  Mexico  was  a  military  dictator  who 
knew  comparatively  little  check  to  his  personal  control,  and 
had  only  to  fear  a  sudden  "  Pronunciamento ''  of  another  am- 
bitious soldier  as  soon  as  there  was  serious  discontent  with 
the  e.xisting  government,  or  a  rival  could  collect  partisans 
around  him.  It  was  a  kind  of  organized  anarchy,  and  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Spaniards  often  appeared  a  misfortune;  yet  the 
Held  was  open  to  the  aspiring,  injustice  might  produce 
avengers,  ever  larger  masses  of  the  people  began  to  think  and 
aspire  for  themselves  and  the  State.  If  this  was  in  a  very 
imperfect  and  often  injurious  manner,  they  would  gradually 
learn  wisdom  from  disaster.  In  short,  an  element  of  progress 
was  introduced  from  which,  in  time,  everything  was  to  be 
hoped. 

California  was  little  benefitted  by  this  change,  yet  it  was 
not  much  injured.  It  was  too  poor  and  too  distant  from  the 
center  to  be  much  of  a  prize,  and  when  the  Mexican  War  oc- 


62^  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

curred,  twenty-five  years  after  Spain  had  withdrawn  her  vice- 
roys and  governors,  the  Spanish- Americans  of  California  were 
quietly  plodding  the  somewhat  dull  and  eventless  round  of 
their  lives.  There  was  little  to  stimulate  effort.  There  was 
hot  much  commerce;  they  had  almost  nothing  to  exchange 
for  foreign  commodities  but  the  hides  of  their  cattle;  there 
had  never  been  any  such  serious  danger  from  Indian  hostility 
in  California  as  had  existed  in  the  Mississippi  Valle}',  on  the 
Atlantic  Slope,  and  from  the  Apaches  and  other  tribes  further 
east  within  Mexican  territory.  This  spur  to  energy  and  ele- 
ment of  discipline  was  wanting.  Yet,  that  there  were  ele- 
ments of  great  distinction  and  power  in  the  Spanish  people 
history  has  many  times  proved.  In  the  later  periods  of  Ko- 
man  rule  it  was  sometimes  said  that  Spaniards  were  more 
Roman  than  the  Romans  themselves;  and  in  the  beginning 
of  modern  times  the  European  people  of  the  Spanish  Penin- 
sula had  a  constitutional  government  the  most  liberal  of  any 
race  then  living.  Their  conquest  of  the  Moors  and  of  the 
New  World,  and  their  supremacy  in  Europe  in  the  sixteenth 
century  testify  to  their  inherent  vigor  and  capacity. 

These  great  qualities  mostly  slumbered  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
for  want  of  stimulus;  yet  they  were  discernible  in  their  self- 
control  and  their  great  success  in  managing  their  dependents 
and  the  Indians.  Each  Mission  Station  and  Mexican 
Ranchero  was  a  little  lordship,  or  principality.  The  rule  was 
very  patriarchal  but  very  complete.  The  Indians  were  far 
more  docile,  useful,  and,  externally  at  least,  civilized  and 
christianized  than  under  later  Anglo-American  rule.  Spanish 
life  in  America  is  a  somewhat  contradictory,  curious  and  in- 
teresting study.  It  has,  possibly,  started  the  more  southern 
Indian  races  on  a  new  and  higher  line  of  improvement  that 
will  bear  good  fruit  in  the  future. 

Arizona,  the  great  Utah  Basin,  and  the  part  of  the  southern 
mountain  plateau  now  within  the  United  States,  were  nearly 
free  from  European  presence.     They  were  absolutely  so  except 


THE   ARIZONA    PLATEAU    AND    THE    OREGON    COAST.  629 

in  the  Rio  Grande  valley  where  the  Spanish,  after  some  contests 
and  trials,had  established  their  ascendency  over  the  native  races. 
All  the  rest  was  roamed  over  by  the  wildest  and  fiercest  of 
Indian  tribes  and  was,  apparently,  too  much  of  a  desert  to  be 
worth  their  conquest  even  had  that  been  possible  so  remote 
from  the  City  of  Mexico. 

Traces  of  occupation  by  a  people  civilized  enough  to  build 
great  aqueducts  for  the  purposes  of  agriculture,  the  ruins  of 
many  extensive  buildings,  together  with  certain  Aztec  tradi- 
tional tales,  made  of  it  a  land  of  mystery  and  romance.  Tales  of 
populous  cities,  of  vast  wealth,  of  civilized  government,  floated 
about  in  the  Mexican  air.  The  wealth  is  now  being  realized 
by  tens  of  millions  of  dollars  annually;  but  the  ancient  people 
have  vanished.  The  remains  of  a  comfortable  and  considerably 
civilized  life  are  very  striking  and  significant  although  quite 
as  meager  as  those  of  the  Mound  Builders  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  Such  as  do  remain,  however,  being  embodied  in 
stone,  are  unequivocal  in  their  testimony  to  the  existence  of 
an  ancient  well-organized  community  there. 

Neither  the  coast  nor  the  interior  of  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton furnished  any  traces  of  former  civilization.  Lewis  and 
Clarke  explored  the  region  for  the  United  States  Government 
immediately  after  the  "  Louisiana  Purchase"  from  the  French 
of  their  claims  to  all  their  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  If  this  mountain  region  was  not  distinctly  included 
in  that  purchase  it  rather  naturally  went  with  it,  and  an 
American  sea  captain  was  the  first  to  discover  and  to  enter 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  in  1792.  The  British 
American  Fur  Trading  Company,  however,  first  located  a 
trading  fort  at  "Walla  "Walla  within  the  mountains,  and,  dur- 
ing the  war  of  1812-15,  a  British  vessel  took  possession  of 
Astoria,  an  American  fur  trading  post  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia. 

The  English  and  American  Governments  could  not  agree 
as  to  which  had  the  better  claims  to  the  Oregon  coast  and  the 


()30  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

inland  regions  drained  by  the  Columbia  and  its  branches  till 
nearly  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  there  was  much  war- 
like excitement  in  the  United  States  over  the  English  claims 
about  1840.  A  peaceful  treaty,  however,  decided  iu  favor  of 
the  United  States,  and  established  the  International  Bound- 
ary on  the  49th  parallel,  where  it  now  remains.  Toward  the 
same  period — 1839-40 — American  mission  stations  began  to 
spring  up  and  American  settlements  commenced  on  the  Wil- 
lamette in  western  Oregon.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Mexican 
War  the  settlers  numbered  several  thousands.  California 
was  then  taken  possession  of  by  Fremont  and  Commodore 
Stockton,  and  remained  in  American  hands,  by  treaty,  at  the 
close  of  that  war. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  a  free  State  along  the  streams  and 
among  the  foot-hills  at  the  western  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada 
Mountains  of  California  soon  after  American  occupation  con- 
centrated the  coast  settlement  chiefly  in  the  California  val- 
ley. Yet,  after  a  few  years  it  was  found  that,  for  most  people, 
farming  was  more  profitable  than  mining,  and  population 
gathered  in  Oregon.  The  settlements,  however,  mostly  re- 
mained west  of  the  Cascade  Mountains.  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington in  this  region  differ  from  all  other  parts  of  the  Pacific 
Slope,  and,  indeed,  from  all  other  parts  of  the  continent. 
They  are  abundantly  watered,  have  a  mild  and  equable  climate, 
an  extremely  fertile  soil,  a  heavy  and  valuable  growth  of  tim- 
ber, access  from  the  interiors  to  the  open  sea  by  water  routes, 
and  an  exceptionally  fine  commercial  position  which  will  be 
of  incalculable  importance  and  value  in  the  future.  The 
region  here  north  and  south  of  the  Columbia  furnishes  a  sur- 
face larger  than  the  whole  State  of  Ohio  with  greater  value 
and  durability  of  soil,  so  far  as  may  now  be  judged,  with  far 
more  important  uses  and  values  in  its  timber,  a  better  climate 
and  more  favorable  rain-fall  and  extensive  deposits  of  coal. 

A  new  supply  of  precious  metals  about  1850  was  the  great 
necessity  for  the  enlargement  of  business  activity  and  enter- 


■Of': 


WIDE-EEACHING    INFLUENCE    OF    CALIFORNIA    GOLD.        631 

prise  made  possible  by  the  use  of  steam  on  land  and  water. 
All  the  skill,  inventions,  experiences  and  discipline  of  the 
past  had  prepared  the  more  civilized  nations — and  especially 
the  Anglo-Saxon  races — for  this  enlargement.  The  gold  of 
California  and  Australia,  and  the  silver  of  Nevada,  Arizona 
and  Colorado  would  not  corrupt  and  debase  these  active  and 
thrifty  nations  in  the  nineteenth  century  as  the  treasures  of 
Mexico  and  Peru  did  the  Spaniards  of  the  sixteenth.  Those. 
Spaniards  gained  it  by  violence  to  increase  their  pleasures; 
the  later  industrial  races  by  honest  toil,  to  use  as  an  instru- 
ment of  lawful  activity  and  most  profitable  enterprise.  We 
have  seen  its  relation  to  the  spread  of  railways  in  the  Great 
Valley  and  the  immense  advantage  of  these  to  the  growth 
and  development  of  that  admirable  region.  It  was  employed 
for  similar  useful  purposes  by  England  and  her  colonies,  by 
France,  Germany  and  other  civilized  nations,  to  develop  their 
internal  resources  and  increase  their  facilities  for  exchange 
with  every  region  of  the  earth. 

Thus  were  California  and  the  mining  regions  of  the  Pacific 
Slope  intimately  connected  with  the  progress  of  the  world  in 
civilization  and  comfort.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  world  great  treasures,  suddenly  acquired,  did  not 
blight  the  energies  and  degrade  the  lives  of  the  people  into 
whose  hands  they  passed.  In  this  case  it  was,  at  most,  only 
individuals,  comparatively  few  in  number,  that  were  demoral- 
ized. Nothing  more  clearly  shows  the  real  and  thorough 
progress  achieved  by  modern  civilization,  and  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories  is  the  greatest 
possible  encomium  on  Anglo-American  mental  soundnesa 
and  moral  viofor. 

The  rich  discoveries  of  gold  became  immediately  known  to 
the  civilized  world  and  eager  adventurers  rushed  from  all 
directions  to  the  foot-hills  of  the  California  basin.  Thou- 
sands  crossed  the  six  hundred  miles  of  plain,  the  thousand 
miles  of  mountain  barrier  and  burning  desert  that  lay  be- 


632  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

tween  the  States  of  the  Valley  and  the  golden  sands  at  the 
western  foot  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  with  toils  and  snfferings 
difficult  to  conceive  by  those  who  have  not  experienced  them ; 
and  tens  of  thousands  reached  the  coast  by  a  long  and  peril- 
ous passage  around  Cape  Horn,  or  by  the  difficult  pathway 
through  the  mud  and  malaria  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
It  was  a  wonderful  gathering  of  the  adventurous,  the  enter- 
prising, and  the  desperate,  collected  in  a  comparative  desert 
thousands  of  miles,  by  the  shortest  routes,  from  the  comforts 
and  conveniences  and  legal  organizations  of  civilized  life,  in  a 
land  whose  condition  and  climate  were  almost  unknown, 
where  gold  was  more  abundant  than  water,  and  sometimes 
could  not  purchase  the  simplest  necessities  of  life. 

It  must  have  been  as  severe  a  test  of  human  virtue  as  men 
could  well  be  subjected  to — a  social  and  moral  chaos  with 
every  temptation  to  depravity,  and  every  embarrassment  to^ 
the  introduction  of  the  usual  methods  of  order  and  law. 
In  its  result  it  was  a  final  and  triumphant  proof  of  Anglo- 
American  civilization.  Inevitably,  for  a  time,  and  to  a  great 
extent,  lawless  violence  ruled,  until  the  thrifty  and  wise  could 
distinguish  each  other,  concert  fitting  plans,  and  concentrate 
strength  enough  to  carry  them  into  execution.  They  were 
mostly  strangers  to  each  other,  and  had  all  the  power  of  vio- 
lent passion — sustained  by  lust  of  gold — to  combat.  But 
the  American  was  accustomed  to  self-government,  to  rapid 
conception  and  prompt  execution.  Extreme  disorder  was 
soon  obliged  to  conceal  its  darker  deeds,  and  when  these 
proved  too  strong  for  ordinary  justice  an  extraordinar}'  tribu- 
nal was  constituted,  and  swift  retribution  fell  on  the  criminal. 
The  end  accomplished,  ordinary  laws  and  remedies  resumed 
their  sway. 

Anglo-Americans  demonstrated  their  capacity  for  ruling 
extraordinary  situations  under  these  singular  difficulties  more 
rapidly,  and  even  more  triumphantly,  than  in  the  Valley.  In 
two  years  a  population  of  a  hundred  thousand  had  collected, 


CALIFORNIA    BECOMES    A    STATE.  633 

besides  the  multitudes  whicli  had  come  and  gone.  All  the 
institutions  and  aids  of  a  highly-organized  society  were  soon 
collected  under  the  stimulus  of  gold.  Towns  and  cities  rose 
as  if  by  magic;  the  resources  of  the  country  were  studied 
and  developed.  Within  two  years  from  the  lirst  great  rush 
of  gold  seekers  all  the  preliminary  phases  of  organization 
ran  their  course,  reconstituted  social  and  civil  life,  and  Cali- 
fornia was  admitted  into  the  Union  of  States  by  Congress, 
September  7,  ISoO. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  first  State  on  the  Pacific 
coast  a  new  order  of  development  commenced,  a  new  class  of 
capacities  and  adaptations  of  American  character  and  habits 
began  to  take  form.  It  was  the  Anglo-American  as  developed 
further  east  by  the  experience  and  successes  of  nearly  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  wlio  was  acquainted  with  difficulty 
and  accustomed  to  conquer  it;  who  knew  how  to  build  up  a 
political  society,  shield  it  from  danger  and  keep  it  progressive; 
who  was  so  ingenious  and  successful  in  business  as  to  make 
the  most  of  the  resources  within  his  reach,  who  was  now  set- 
tled in  a  gold  field  of  unexampled  richness.  Capital  could 
be  immediately  obtained  in  vast  quantities,  the  only  limit  be- 
ing in  the  degree  of  enterprise  and  the  amount  of  labor  and 
skill  expended.  For  the  employment  of  this  ready  cash  cap- 
ital lying  everywhere  among  the  mountains  and  foot-hills  he 
had  a  great  and  thriving  country  across  the  mountains  at  the 
east,  a  free  range  of  the  vast  Pacific,  with  access  across  it  to 
China,  Japan  and  all  the  islands  and  old  and  rich  nations  of 
eastern  Asia,  with  such  a  direct  trade  with  Europe  and  its 
colonies  as  should  be  found  profitable. 

It  was  an  opportunity  of  grand  proportions  with  a  bewild- 
ering variety  of  great  resources,  and  channels  for  them  to 
flow  in,  such  as  had  never  before  been  granted  to  man.  But 
the  American  was  here  set  down  in  a  seeming  desert  many 
thousand  miles  from  the  great  centers  of  industry  and  com- 
merce.    He  must  organize  and  develop  from   tlie  foundation 


e> 


s> 


634  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

on  a  ifrander  scale  at  the  start  than  had  ever  before  been 
known.  This  required  time  and  gave  a  new  and  higher  de- 
gree of  discipline.  Meanwhile  the  gold  flowed  away  from  the 
Pacific  coast  to  all  civilized,  and  many  but  partly  civilized 
countries.  It  furnished  the  means  for  a  more  rapid  and  vol- 
uminous development  of  the  various  great  enterprises  and  in- 
dustries of  modern  times.  The  countries  that  profited  by  the 
golden  stream  most  were  those  which  were  best  prepared  to 
use  it — England,  America  and  France — but  especially  the 
Republic  of  the  Atlantic  Slope  and  of  the  Great  Valley.  The 
uses  to  which  the  capital  was  there  put  increased  it  a  hundred 
fold,  for  it  was  spent,  not  in  childish  luxury  and  tempo- 
rary splendor,  but  in  developing  the  real  wealth  of  which  gold 
was  only  the  representative.  This  development  reacted  on  the 
further  and  most  rapid  progress  of  the  Pacific  Slope  in  many 
ways  and  with  great  power.  It  was  as  if  California  had 
loaned  all  her  ready-money  in  the  East  and  in  Europe  at  an 
enormous  interest  which  was  returned,  not  directly  in  money, 
but,  what  was  far  better,  in  various  appliances  and  aids  to  real 
progress  and  permanent  wealth. 

But  much  of  the  gold  of  California  was  invested  within  her 
own  boundaries,  with  the  effect  of  doubling,  trebling  or  quad- 
rupling her  average  production  of  real  wealth.  The  climate 
and  soil  were  found  to  be  of  rare  excellence  where  well  under- 
stood and  properly  utilized,  and  in  a  few  years  she  began  to 
export  her  grains  and  fruit  on  a  large  scale.  Stock  had  always 
been  a  specialty  of  the  i'ew  Mexicans  resident  there,  and  was 
now  vastly  improved  in  quality  and  increased  in  quantity. 
The  production  of  the  fisheries  of  the  coast  and  the  lower 
courses  of  the  streams,  of  the  mines  of  more  common  metals 
and  salt,  of  manufactories,  as  soon  as  they  could  be  established 
in  California  and  Oregon,  and  of  the  magnificent  forests  of 
Washington,  soon  amounted  to  an  enormous  total  with  a  fu- 
ture of  almost  unlimited  expansion  for  each. 

All  these  had  but  the  sniallest  beginning  when  the  civil 


CALIFORNIA    IN    THE    EARLY    TIMES.  635 

war  broke  out  and  diverted  the  energies  and  resources  of  the 
East  from  producing  to  destroying — from  enlargement  west- 
ward to  self-preservation  eastward.  California  and  the  whole 
Pacific  Slope  naturally  suffered  from  their  close  relations, 
political,  commercial,  and  industrial,  with  the  contending 
sections;  but  it  was  distant  from  the  scene  of  actual  conflict 
in  which  it  took  part  on  the  Federal  side  chiefly  by  its  politi- 
cal organization  and  by  its  regiments  of  soldiery.  The  west- 
ern coast  was  clear  sighted,  and  had  been* from  the  first,  form- 
ing a  free  State  and  rejecting  forced  labor  when  it  applied 
for  admission  into  the  Union,  and  steadily  maintaining  its 
loyalty  to  the  best  economic  as  well  as  political  principles. 
It  consolidated  its  growth  and  steadily  pushed  forward, 
though  slowly,  during  and  after  the  war;  for  it  was  distant 
from  the  world's  centers  of  activity  and  had  great  barriers  to 
break  down  that  were  felt  to  be  more  and  more  annoying 
hindrances  as  progress  gathered  in  volume. 

Thus,  there  was  a  degree  of  isolation  here  for  twenty-tive 
years — as  at  first  on  the  Atlantic  for  English  colonists  and 
afterwards  in  the  Valley  for  Anglo-American  pioneers — 
although  here  it  was  modified  by  the  Pacific  highway  to  all 
parts  of  the  world  and  a  rapid  steamship  communication  and 
commerce,  though  the  shortest  distance  by  sea  to  the  great 
eastern  markets  was  5,000  miles.  It  was  summarily  ended 
in  1869  by  the  completion  of  the  railroad  across  the  conti- 
nent; but  the  kind  and  degree  of  isolation  had  stimulated  the 
intelligence  and  enterprise  of  the  better  and  ruling  class  of 
the  people,  who  were  true  Anglo-Americans  in  aim  and 
spirit — although  multitudes  were  foreigners  by  birth  and 
education.  Americans  from  the  East  predominated  in  num- 
bers and  still  more  in  influence;  for  most  intelligent  people 
of  other  nationalities — and  it  was  more  especially  such  who 
found  their  way  to  California  in  the  early  days  and  remained 
— readily  fall  into  American  ways,  throughout  the  country, 
and  take  an  ample  part  in  its  enterprises.     With  abundant 


63G  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

capital  and  large  opportunities  the  natural  difficulties  to  be 
surmounted  were  great  enough  to  call  out  all  their  genius  and 
energ}'.  The  disciplining  power  was  peculiarly  great  and 
sTimmarily  eflective. 

Long  experience  of  difficulties  which  were  to  be  overcome 
by  private  combination  and  energy  had  given  Americans  a 
special  education  and  great  facility  of  adaptation.  When  called 
on  to  engage  in  the.  new  industry  of  mining  on  a  great  scale, 
to  reclaim  a  region  which  was  an  apparent  desert  one  half  the 
year — and  often  appearing  such  permanently — to  inaugurate 
a  system  of  transportation  er^ual  to  the  wants  of  a  vast  and 
distant  region  suddenly  deluged  with  inhabitants  and  con- 
taining boundless  resources  waiting  to  be  developed,  they 
were  equal  to  the  task. 

A  few  years  had  provided  the  machinery  required  to  crush 
the  rocks  and  reduce  the  ores  of  the  richest  mineral  veins  in 
the  world;  they  had  developed  agriculture  in  the  California 
valleys  and  basins,  so  as,  with  the  products  of  Oregon,  to 
more  than  supply  the  needs  of  their  population  and  com- 
mence exportation;  and  they  had,  with  the  most  remarkable 
persistence  and  fertility  of  resource,  contrived  to  build  a  rail- 
road from  tide-water  on  the  Pacific  over  the  high  and  pre- 
cipitous Sierra  Nevada  and  across  the  rainless  desolation  of 
the  Utah  basin.  It  was  there  met  by  another  which 
had  crossed  the  sea  of  mountains  that  separates  the  inte- 
rior from  the  plains,  and  over  those — then  an  almost  unin- 
habited, treeless  space — from  the  Missouri  River,  where  it 
connected  with  the  railway  system  of  the  rest  of  the  country. 

This  Pacific  Railway,  as  a  whole,  was  indeed,  a  national  en- 
terprise in  many  respects,  for  it  was  authorized  by  the  Federal 
Government  and  aided  by  public  funds  to  the  extent  of  over 
sixty-four  million  dollars,  and  the  eastern  half  from  Great 
Salt  Lake  was  constructed  by  an  Eastern  company.  Govern- 
ment funds,  however,  were  not  supplied  until  the  work  was 
certified  as  properly  completed  over  definite  distances,  the 


^iJiLt 


THE    NEW    TRAITS    DEVELOPED    ON    THE    SLOPE.  637 

public  funds  being  only  an  encouragement  and  aid  to  corpo- 
rate enterprise.  The  initiation  and  completion  of  the  western 
half  were  due,  in  large  part,  to  tlie  courage,  prudence  and 
perseverance  of  a  single  firm  of  merchants  in  Sacramento. 
Begun  in  1865  it  was  completed  in  four  years.  Previously, 
in  the  summer  of  1861,  a  telegraph  line  had  been  built  in  a 
similar  way  by  two  companies,  one  commencing  that  season 
at  Fort  Kearney,  on  the  Missouri  plains,  and  another  at  Fort 
Churchill,  in  California,  and  meeting,  in  about  four  months, 
at  Salt  Lake  City.  The  magnitude  of  the  undertaking 
seemed  then  very  great  indeed,  for  the  line  passed  over  a 
desert  of  arid  waste,  well  nigh  impassible  mountains,  with 
little  water  or  wood  on  much  of  the  route,  and  all  the  mate- 
rial, implements,  food  supplies,  and  men  must  be  transported 
in  wagons.  Yet,  once  undertaken,  both  these  great  ventures 
were  driven  through  with  an  energy  that  made  little  account 
of  obstacles — except  to  devise  the  means  of  overcoming  them. 

These  triumphant  contests  with  natural  difficulties  indicate 
the  dauntless  spirit  that  animated  the  pioneers  of  the  Pacific 
Slope.  They  were  fully  seconded  in  the  East  when  Eastern 
aid  was  required,  but  the  men  of  the  West  had  disadvantages 
to  struggle  with  that  could  not  be  experienced  in  the  East. 
The  Western  pioneer  was  the  Eastern  citizen  set  down  in  the 
midstof  new  difficulties  greater  than  he  had  ever  known;  but  he 
found  his  courage  and  his  intelligence  equal  to  the  demand. 
The  great  progress  achieved  required  unwearied  energy,  pru- 
dent good  sense  and  intelligence,  with  broad  conceptions  and 
a  prompt  daring  almost  peculiar  to  these  regions.  Anglo- 
American  capacity  was  developed  in  new  directions  and 
special  sectional  peculiarities  of  character,  acquirement  and 
habitude  were  added  to  what  the  race  before  possessed 
on  the  Atlantic  Slope  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley;  but 
they  are  harmonious  in  interest  and  kindred  in  spirit  with 
the  rest  of  the  Union. 

Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that,  by  a  very  effective  process  of 


638  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

"natural  selection,  '  the  persons  possessing  the  most  suitable 
qualities  for  use  in  this  region  of  great  opportunities  were 
drawn  there  by  the  spirit  of  unrest  and  aspiration  which  has 
ever  done  so  much  to  keep  up  human  progress.  Sometimes  it 
was  educated  and  conscious  ability  seeking  a  larger  field;  some- 
times the  instinctive  promptings  of  uncultured  and  uncon- 
scious genius.  Both  here  found  the  field  and  the  means  for 
doing  full  justice  to  innate  capacities.  Sometimes  the  edu- 
cated scapegrace  of  the  East  or  Europe  would  suddenly  feel 
the  promptings  of  unused  powers,  and  become  wealthy  and 
honored;  sometimes  the  penniless  laborer,  successful  in  catch- 
ing a  portion  of  the  golden  shower,  would  find  that  he  pos- 
sessed financial  gifts  of  a  high  order,  and  become  a  power  in 
the  land. 

The  most  various  gifts  found  opportunity  for  a  surprising 
development.  Many  extensive  undertakings,  originated  and 
conducted  by  individuals  for  private  gain  but  serving  the 
public  admirably,  showed,  before  the  railroads  susperseded 
them,  what  it  was  possible  for  a  single  man  to  do  when  op- 
portunity and  stimulus  were  furnished  him.  An  overland 
stage  in  the  hands  of  one  man  had  a  route  of  3,000  miles; 
6,000  horses  and  mules,  and  over  300  coaches  were  used  on 
the  whole  route.  The  cost  of  maintaining  all  these,  and  the 
army  of  employes  to  use  them  and  maintain  the  stations  for 
them  and  passengers  on  the  desert  plains  and  mountains 
over  which  the  route  passed,  was  immense.  He  received  half 
a  million  of  dollars  annually  from  the  Government  for  carry- 
ing the  mails — for  he  had  a  daily  stage — and  five  hundred  dol- 
lars from  passengers  for  a  trip  across  the  continent.  Though 
costly  it  was  a  great  convenience  and  a  financial  success. 

Hundreds  of  opportunities  which,  in  any  other  country, 
would  be  considered  impossible  for  individuals  to  undertake 
were  similarly  found  and  made  successful  in  connection  witli 
the  early  Pacific  Slope  development.  Any  other  public, 
would  scarcely  have  supported  such  enterprises  by  a  snfli- 


GKEAT   OPPORTUNITIES    GRANDLY    USED.  639 

cient  energy  and  lavish  use  of  money.  Americans  almost  or 
quite  alone,  of  all  people,  venture  to  leap,  at  so  great 
expense,  from  the  conception  to  the  realization  of  their 
undertakings.  All  American  experience  has  tended  to  edu- 
cate its .  practical  men  to  hasten  towards  their  ends  rapidly, 
while  the  full  flush  of  enthusiasm  was  on  them,  seemingly  re- 
gardless of  expense.  Yet  expense  has  been  well  calculated, 
though  apparently  disregarded.  Great  designs  have  been 
rapidly  completed  and  made  to  pay.  The  world  itself  has 
caught  some  of  this  fiery  energy,  and  all  nations  are  now  feel- 
ing its  strong  pulsations  in  some  form. 

California,  and  the  mountain  regions  generally,  have  ma- 
tured still  further  this  spirit  of  bold,  broad  enterprise  by  the 
immensity  of  their  distances  and  singular  difficulties,  and 
also  of  the  rewards  they  were  capable  of  yielding  to  it.  There- 
fore settlers  gain  a  certain  breadth  and  freshness  of  mental 
tone  on  the  Pacific  Slope.  The  close  relations  between  the 
East  and  the  West  produce  a  general  reaction  of  this  spirit 
through  all  parts  of  the  coiintry,  so  that  the  Republic  as  a 
whole  is  mentally  matured  in  this  quality  of  high  enterprise 
— of  dauntless  undertaking. 

There  is  not  likely  to  be  any  serious  or  permanent  arrest 
of  this  side  of  American  growth.  The  opportunity  for  devel- 
opment within  this  vast  area,  on  the  Plains,  in  the  South, 
around  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  over  all  South  America  and 
across  the  broad  Pacific,  under  innumerable  forms,  is'measure- 
less — as  yet.  At  ordinary  times  and  with  an  ordinary  people, 
it  would  remain  so  for  centuries;  but  the  American  genius  is 
so  rapid  that  its  flights  can  scarcely  be  followed — much  less 
anticipated.  The  stalwart  New  Englanders  and  Virginians 
and  their  comrades  of  a  century  ago,  became  still  more  stal- 
wart in  working  up  the  Great  Valley,  and  they  have  not 
ceased  that  kind  of  growth  on  the  Pacific  Slope.  There  can 
scarcely  be  too  much  anticipated  when  reality  has  so  greatly 
outrun  imagined  possibility  as  in  the  past  half  century  of  the 
Republic. 


640  THE    PACIFIC    SLOPE. 

Another  half  century  may  find  as  large  a  population  west- 
ward of  the  high  crest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  the  whole 
United  States  now  numbers.  The  Arizona  valleys  and  mesas, 
the  Utah  and  upper  Columbia  basins,  will  quite  change  their 
appearance  under  cultivation,  and  the  amelioration  of  climate 
it  will  produce.  California  will  be  more  delightful  than  the 
choicest  portions  of  southern  France,  and'^  western  Oregon 
and  Washington  will  excel  central  New  York  and  eastern 
Pennsylvania  or  the  Ohio  valley,  in  the  bountiful  supplies  of 
their  fields  and  streams  and  green  pastures.  The  commerce  of 
the  north  Pacific  will  build  up  immense  cities,  vast  manufac- 
tures, and  distribute  over  the  world  the  products  of  the 
forests  of  the  coast,  the  abundant  fisheries  and  the  prolific 
volcanic  soil.  The  interchanges  between  the  East,  the 
West  and  the  Center — the  Great  Valley,  the  finest  allu- 
vial basin  in  the  world — will  be  almost  immeasurable  in  value. 
Thus  the  liveliest  activities  and  a  boundless  prosperity  will 
cover  all  the  plateaus,  fill  all  the  basins  and  valleys  of  the 
wide  Slope,  and  help  to  double  the  greatness  and  fame  of  the 
Anglo- American  race. 


THE  ATLANTIC  SLOPE. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    BIRTHPLACE    OF    THE    REP0BLIC. 

This  was  on  the  Atlantic  Slope  and  needed  to  be  somewhat 
rough  and  rude  to  give  the  Englishman  the  training  which 
should  develop  a  new  race — the  Anglo  American.  No  one 
of  the  sturdy,  sensible,  vigorous  qualities  of  a  thoroughgoing 
race,  as  characterized  in  English  history,  was  to  be  lost.  The 
personal  independence  of  the  Teuton,  as  formerly  existing  in 
the  forests  of  Germany,  was  to  be  preserved,  and  all  the  les- 
sons in  constitutional  government  which  had  been  learned  dur- 
ing a  thousand  years  in  the  British  Isles  were  to  serve  as 
models  or  warnings  to  the  English  colonists  in  the  New 
World. 

The  traits  of  character  that  had  made  England  a  steadily 
progressive  nation  until,  in  1688,  the  Representatives  of  the 
People — its  Parliament — became  the  paramount  authority, 
and  established  a  substantial  republic  under  the  forms  of  a 
monarchy,  were  to  be  preserved  and  to  acquire  greater  free- 
dom of  action  in  the  Western  Wilderness.  To  safely  reject 
King  and  Aristocracy  a  long  discipline  of  the  masses  who 
were  to  be  the  final  depositaries  of  power  was  needful.  A 
hundred  and  fifty  years  residence  on  the  Atlantic  Slope  pre- 
pared the  way  for  this  new  essay  in  government.  Thirteen 
colonies  settled  the  long  line  of  coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia, 
each  having  direct  relations  to  England,  the  ocean  as  a  com- 
mon highway,  and  considerable  resources  in  their  forests  and 
lands. 

41  ft41 


642  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPK. 

There' was  a  rich  reward  to  be  gained  at  the  cost  of  labor 
and  danger.  They  came  from  the  most  practical  and  self- 
controlled  stock  in  Europe  and  were  satisfied  to  settle  at  once 
to  the  work  they  found  to  do.  They  had  sufficient  courage 
and  determination  to  face  all  difficulties — the  discomforts  of 
isolation  in  a  wilderness,  the  forests  and  their  wild  inhabit- 
ants, animal  and  human,  and  the  labor  required  to  reproduce 
the  prosperity  of  old  England  in  the  rocky  soil  of  the  new. 
A  renowned  race  had  its  beginnings  at  Jamestown,  in  the 
Old  Dominion,  and  at  Plymouth,  in  the  Old  Bay  State,  in  the 
early  years  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  region  in  which  they  built  up  these  free  common- 
wealths— whicli,  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  after  the 
first  colony  landed  in  New  England,  became  the  United 
States  of  America,  "  free  and  independent,"  owning  no  law 
but  that  conceived  and  ordained  by  its  own  citizens — was 
nearly  the  oldest  land  made  on  any  continent.  Parts  of  it. 
at  least,  were  raised  at  the  beginning,  or  when  dry  land  first 
appeared  above  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Labrador  to  Lake 
Superior.  Northern  New  York — the  Adirondack  region — 
and  perhaps  parts  of  northern  New  England,  were  tlien  per- 
manently elevated.  Very  soon  land  became  visible  near  the 
present  shore  line  of  the  Atlantic,  and  was  worn  down  for 
countless  ages  to  help  form  the  vast  accumulations  of  strati- 
fied rock  along  the  site  of  the  future  Alleghany  Mountains. 

The  force  that  came  from  the  sinking  ocean  had  acted  as  a 
lever  against  the  higher  crust  that  was  to  be  the  land.  It 
operated  very  slowly  and  gradually  wrinkled  the  crust  with- 
out breaking  it.  The  first  fold  seems  to  have  been  upward 
and  perhaps  two  hundred — possibly,  in  places,  many  hun- 
dred— miles  wide.  The  next  fold,  or  crease,  was  downward, 
along  the  site  of  the  future  mountains.  In  this  depression  the 
wash  of  the  land  and  the  constant  movement  of  the  sea 
gathered  sand  and  mud  and  the  limestone  shells  of  the  in- 
numerable  animal  inhabitants  of  the  waters,  and  thick  layers 


& 


to 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    ALLEGHANIES    AND    THEIR    SOIL.  643 

of  rock  were  laid  one  over  tlie  other.  This  seems  to  have 
weighted  the  crust  along  the  depression  and  increased  the 
downward  tendency.  The  sinking  was  slow  and  rock  formed 
as  fast  as  the  under  crust  descended,  for  most  of  these  rocks 
give  evidence  of  having  been  formed  in  water  only  a  few 
hundred  feet  deep.  The  under  side  of  this  downward  fold 
is  believed  to  have  been  deeply  immersed  in  the  vast  sea  of 
iiery  liquid  over  which  the  whole  crust  of  the  earth  was 
spread  and  to  have  melted  away  in  the  center.  As  the  push- 
ing force  from  the  ocean  gathered  strength  toward  the  last 
part  of  Palaeozoic  time,  when  the  crust  became  thicker,  the 
under  sides  of  the  rock  bordering  the  melted  part  gradually 
closed  together. 

This  would  tend  to  heave  up  the  center  of  the  depression, 
and,  in  time,  the  layers  which  had  accumulated  there  to  the 
depth  of  eight  miles  were  raised  into  the  nKnintain  chain 
of  the  Alleghanies.  These  rocks  which  had  been  formed  in 
water  were  softer  and  furnished  a  richer  soil  when  worn  to 
dust  than  the  original  crust,  or  the  Azoic  rock  first  laid  over 
that.  For  this  reason  parts  of  New  England,  where  the 
mountains  are  more  largely  granite,  the  original  crust,  or 
such  rock  as  was  first  laid  on  it,  is  rougher  and  less  favorable 
for  agriculture  thau  the  region  from  central  New  York  to 
Georgia.  As  the  summits  and  sides  of  the  Alleghanies 
were  worn  by  frost  and  storm  and  running  water  a  man- 
tle of  fertile  soil  was  formed  on  the  Slope  toward  the 
Atlantic  from  northeastern  Pennsylvania  southward.  The 
vicinity  of  the  ocean,  the  course  of  the  cloud-bearing  winds, 
and  the  condensing  power  of  the  mountains  secured  abund- 
ant moisture,  and  a  fertile  soil  resulted  from  the  unbroken 
succession  of  vegetable  growth  and  decay  for  an  immense 
period  of  time.  The  English  colonists,  therefore,  found  a 
good  farming  region,  when  the  forests  were  cut  down,  ail 
along  this  Slope. 

Near  the  sea,  in  later  times,  after  the  mountains  were  raised, 


644  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

there  was  considerable  movement.  It  was  liiglier  than  now, 
at  one  time,  and  the  distance  from  the  mountains  to  the  coast 
line  was  greater  by  about  a  hundred  miles.  Then  it  became 
lower  than  at  present,  the  latest  formations  of  rock  were  laid 
some  distance  inland,  and  this  tended  to  increase  the  agricul- 
tural value  of  the  region  immediately  bordering  the  sea. 
New  England  was  more  or  less  enriched  during  the  Glacial 
Period.  The  ice  flowed  over  much  or  all  of  it  and  left  the 
Drift,  which  so  enriched  the  Mississippi  Valley,  in  its  depres- 
sions thus  toning  down  its  sterility  and  native  harshness  and 
furnishing  it  much  good  soil. 

Before  the  elevation  of  the  Alleghanies  commenced  the 
region  along  their  future  site  was  at  and  just  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  from  New  York  to  Alabama  and  the  most 
abundant  vegetable  growth  anywhere  known  over  a  territory 
so  extensive  was  made  into  coal  to  be  elevated  with  the  moun- 
tains. A  vast  amount  of  the  best  of  this  coal  was  on  the  east- 
ern side,  within  easy  reach  of  the  ocean,  near  the  shores  where 
the  largest  cities  and  the  centers  of  industrial  activity  were 
afterward  to  be  located.  The  heat  developed  during  the  rais- 
ing of  the  mountains  turned  this  into  anthracite,  or  rock 
coal,  the  purest  and  most  concentrated  fuel  known.  Its  value 
to  the  Anglo-Americans  after  they  had  consolidated  their 
new  government  w^as  to  be  quite  beyond  computation,  and  to 
furnish  the  means  of  ultimately  rivaling  the  Mother  in  man- 
ufacturing and  commercial  industries. 

The  rocks  were  also  rich  in  iron  and  some  other  metals, 
and  in  the  finest  marble  and  building  stone.  Central,  west- 
ern and  northwestern  New  York  were  geologically  separated 
in  formation  from  the  Atlantic  Slope.  They  formed  part  of 
the  interior  basin  and  shared  richly  in  its  provision  for  great 
agricultural  resources.  It  became  an  exceedingly  valuable 
farming  region  and  its  vicinity  to  the  sea  coast,  the  partial 
interruption  of  the  mountain  chain,  and  the  rivers  that  flowed 
from  its  borders  to  the  Atlantic  as  well  as  to  the  Great  Lake 


THE    RESOURCES    WERE    FAVORABLE    TO    DISCIPLINE.  645 

system  conferred  on  it  singular  economical  advantages.  In  the 
south  the  mountain  chain  disappeared,  leaving  some  hundreds 
of  miles  between  its  lower  extremities  and  the  Gulf,  so  that 
the  colonies  of  the  coast  found  ready  access  to  the  vast  and 
productive  Valley  when  they  should  become  so  firmly  estab- 
lished and  numerous  as  to  feel  inclined  to  occupy  it. 

No  great  amount  of  precious  metals  was  stored  in  the  Al- 
leghanies,  and  much  of  the  soil  yielded  profitable  returns  only 
to  persistent  care  and  toil,  so  that  the  ancestors  of  the  future 
great  western  nation  were  not  demoralized  by  too  easily 
gained  wealth,  and  became  hardy,  economical  and  thrifty  un- 
der the  healthy  labors  wliicii  prosperity  in  this  region  required. 
There  were  resources  enough  to  stimulate  them  to  industry 
by  a  good  reward  for  their  pains,  while  the  Atlantic  furnished 
them  a  pathway  to  the  best  markets  of  the  civilized  world. 
The  fisheries  of  the  northern  coast  were  a  source  of  jfain  and 
educated  a  large  class  of  hardy  and  skillful  mariners. 

Thus  all  the  required  conditions  for  the  development  of 
mental  and  material  independence  were  supplied  in  the  right 
measure  to  the  early  emigrants  from  England.  Many  of  them, 
and  especially  those  of  New  England,  had  fled  across  the 
ocean  for  the  sake  of  mental  and  religious  freedom,  and  the 
remainder,  as  well  as  emigrants  from  other  European  countries, 
were  sufiiciently  like  them  in  mental  aspiration  and  industrial 
habits  to  be  impelled  in  the  same  direction  by  the  new  freedom 
from  restraint  and  the  new  influences  that  began  here  to  truide 
them.  The  English  gentlemen  of  the  middle  and  southern 
colonies,  the  Hollanders  of  New  York,  the  Swedes  of  New 
Jersey  and  Delaware,  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
Huguenots  of  the  Carolinas  all  caught  the  same  spirit  and 
sympathized  with  the  sober  and  restrained  impatience  at  for- 
eign interference  of  the  Puritans  of  New  England.  They  all 
began  to  lay  aside  the  narrow  prejudices  inherited  from  an 
immemorial  past  in  Europe.  The  clear  practical  sense  and  di- 
rectness which  had  always  silently  and  secretly  guided  English 


646  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

history,  and  was  the  progressive  element  of  Eui-opean  society 
in  general,  here  found  itself  almost  unincumbered.  At  least, 
it  was  stimulated  in  these  lonely  wilds,  and  came  into  vigor- 
ous action  in  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  a  new  region,  in 
contest  with  the  Indians,  and  in  the  large  amount  of  self-govern- 
ment which  had  been  granted  by  colonial  charters  to  encour- 
aife  eniia-ration.  Tlie  full  exercise  of  these  liberties  was  fa- 
vored,  during  the  early  days,  by  their  distance  from  the 
Mother  Country  and  the  seat  of  Government. 

This  intelligent  independence  and  self-reliance  was  of  slow 
growth,  but  became  completely  characteristic  of  the  masses 
of  the  people  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  long  before  the  revolu- 
tionary period.  There  was  therefore  no  violent  change  when 
the  want  of  perception  of  this  state  of  things  in  the  colonies 
by  English  statesmen  led  them  into  great  mistakes  in  their 
colonial  policy,  and  induced  the  colonies  to  unite  in  throwing 
off  European  control.  It  was  an  ev^ent  as  natural  as  the 
bursting  of  the  plant  into  flower  and  fruit.  The  republic 
did  not  have  its  origin  in  this  want  of  discretion  of  the  English 
ministers  and  the  obstinate  resolution  of  the  English  govern- 
ment to  rule  its  colonies  as  dependencies  and  subject  lands. 
It  already  existed  in  the  character  and  habits  of  the  people. 
The  restrictions  put  upon  their  industries  and  commerce  had 
long  been  felt  as  unjust  and  oppressive,  and  endured  because 
some  advantages  were  received  from  the  prestige  and  power 
of  England.  When  the  English  ministry  and  Parliament 
proposed  to  tax  them  without  consultation  or  their  consent 
they  already  felt  themselves  to  be  a  nation  capable  of  ruling 
and  protecting  themselves,  and  their  moderate  but  firm 
resistance  was  a  common  impulse,  from  Boston  to  Savannah. 

Without  any  violent  shock  to  the  institutions  already  ex- 
isting among  them,  they  declared  their  independence  in  a 
noble  and  dignified  appeal  to  the  good  sense  of  mankind, 
formed  a  provisional  central  government  for  conducting  the 
war,  and  managed  their  local  affairs  as  they  had  long  been  ac- 


BOLD    BUT    SHREWD    STATESMANSHIP.  647 

customed  to  do.  Only  after  twelve  years  of  experience  and 
consideration  did  they  decree  a  final  and  definite  Constitu- 
tion; and,  when  this  was  framed  and  went  into  operation,  it 
was  found  to  be  so  far-siglited,  so  thoroughly  practical,  and  so 
well  adjusted  to  an  indefinite  expansion,  that  the  vast  growth 
following  required  very  few  changes,  and  none  of  any  real 
impcn-tance  till  the  epoch  of  the  Civil  War. 

Though  these  people  arranged  their  republic  on  certain  prin- 
ciples that  were  very  radical,  and  rejected  many  things  deemed 
essential  to  the  stability  of  political  and  social  order  in  the 
Old  World,  they  were  yet  strongly  conservative  as  to  the  in- 
stitutions then  established,  and  not  depending  on  colonial  re- 
lations with  England.  Few  changes  were  made  in  State  or 
municipal  affairs,  and  social  conditions  were  left  to  arrange 
themselves  according  to  their  inherent  laws.  They  did  not 
attempt  to  arrange  an  ideal  republic;  they  were  extremely 
practical  and  self-restrained.  They  endowed  the  central  gov- 
ernment with  vigorous  powers  reluctantly,  and  only  under  the 
pressure  of  imperious  necessit}'.  In  many  ways  they  displayed 
the  moderate,  cautious  spirit  of  genuine  Englishmen.  They 
left  the  way  open  for  progress;  but  they  cast  nothing  aside 
because  it  was  old,  and  adopted  nothing  new  without  careful 
consideration  or  some  pressing  necessity. 

It  was  a  remarkable  piece  of  good  fortune  that  placed  the 
boundless  resources  of  the  best  parts  of  North  America  in  such 
prudent  hands  with  so  little  restraint  on  their  action.  They 
conducted  their  affairs  with  the  cautious  wisdom  of  statesmen 
and.  at  the  same  time,  with  the  boldness  and  directness  of 
theorists.  Jefferson  and  Washingt<m,  the  Democratic  and 
Federal  parties,  embodied  these  two  principles.  Washington 
and  Adams,  of  the  Federal  party,  first  organized  and  guided 
public  affairs.  They  were  representative  of  the  conservative 
tendencies.  Jefferson  then  took  the  lead,  and  the  more  pro- 
gressive republicans  ruled  the  country.  Yet  the  general 
changes  in  the  policy  already  inaugurated  were  comparatively 


648 


THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 


slight.  No  violent  contrasts  were  observable,  and  no  disor- 
ders of  importance  occurred.  The  Englishmen  brought  a 
scion  from  the  tree  of  British  liberty,  and  arrafted  it  on  na- 
tive  American  stock.  It  grew  with  a  vigor  and  produced 
with  a  fullness  before  unknown.  It  was  a  healthy  growth  and 
took  on  still  higher  qualities  as  it  was  propagated  in  the  new 
retrions  westward. 

Industrial  and  commercial  progress  were  extremely  marked, 
although  three  million  men  with  so  vast  a  region  to  open  must 
lind  time  an  important  element  in  their  calculations.  They 
had  little  capital  and  small  experience  of  varied  industries. 
All  manufacturing  in  colonial  times  must  be  done  in  England, 
and  commerce  was  restricted  to  the  same  country  up  to  the 
opening  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  countries  of  the 
Old  World,  with  their  inheritanceof  organization,  of  skill,  and 
of  capital,  must  long  have  the  best  of  the  race  in  this  direc- 
tion. Americans  occupied  themselves  for  nearly  three-quar- 
ters of  a  century  in  building  anew.  Commerce  and  manu- 
factures were  secondary  to  growth,  and  only  received  such 
enlargement  as  the  special  requirements  of  the  ])eople  and 
the  circumstances  encouraged.  Pioneering  and  extending 
boundaries  into  an  unbroken  wilderness  was  rude  work;  but 
it  was  attractive  and  promising  in  respect  to  the  future,  and 
the  energetic  and  aspiring  on  the  Atlantic  Slope  went  west 
by  hundreds  of  thousands.  The  East  was  long  drained  of  its 
most  valuable  youths  and  eftective  men  of  business,  as  of  its 
capital,  in  peopling  the  Great  Valley  and  assisting  its  pio- 
neers to  clear  the  j)assages  from  it  to  the  outer  world.  Its 
children  and  its  funtls  flo\ve<l  westward  in  a  steady  stream, 
and  not  till  1850,  when  railroads  began  to  furnish  a  sufficient 
outlet,  and  the  gold  of  California  replenished  cajtital,  did  le- 
turns  begin  to  come  back  in  full  measure. 

But  the  people  who  remained  behind  had  not  been  idle. 
Inventions  of  vast  importance  had  been  utilized,  a  part  of  the 
flood  of  immigrants  from   Europe  had  remained  in  the  cities 


HOW    THE    EAST    GREW    WHILE    HELPING    THE    WEST.        649 

and  miinufactorieb  of  the  East,  had  dug  its  canals  and  built 
its  railroads,  and  been  the  efficient  arm  whereby  the  busy 
brain  of  the  American  executed  its  great  conceptions.  Al- 
ready commerce  had  grown  to  hundreds  of  millions  and  a 
multitude  of  industries  had  filled  the  country  with  prosper- 
ous towns  and  cities.  Its  agricultural  resources  had  devel- 
oped to  great  proportions  and  its  mineral  resources  had  been 
drawn  upon  very  largely.  Such  prosperity  on  so  large  a  .scale 
and  in  a  period  so  brief  was  une.xampled  in  previous  history, 
and  could  only  be  excelled  by  the  future  growth  of  the  vast 
Valley  and  regions  of  the  AVest  where  immeasurable  resources 
were  waiting  to  be  used.  Every  form  of  growth  in  the  East 
— -all  its  accumulations  of  capital,  its  industries,  its  fertility  of 
mental  resource — was  so  much  added  to  the  sum  of  resources 
emplo^'ed  for  the  development  of  the  West. 

There  was  a  rich  reward  in  these  investments,  for  the  farms 
and  lands,  the  produce  and  minerals,  the  railroad  stocks  and 
all  kinds  of  prosperous  enterprises  were  largely  owned  in  the 
East  and  their  successful  results  made  countless  millionaires 
in  its  cities.  The  time  came  when  these  results  reached' 
colossal  proportions  and  the  flow  of  wealth  stimulated  manu- 
facturing and  commerce  and  spread  prosperity  over  all  the 
Atlantic  Slope.  It  became  possible  for  single  individuals  to 
accumulate  scores  of  millions  in  a  single  lifetime,  and  the 
chief  cities  became  vast  monied  centers. 

Before  the  Civil  War  the  value  of  cotton  and  of  forced 
labor  made  the  whites  of  the  Southern  Atlantic  States  ex- 
tremely wealthy.  The  war  reduced  them  to  poverty,  for  the 
time,  and  the  boundless  accumulations  of  capital  remained 
chiefly  in  the  northeastern,  but  especially  in  the  middle, 
States.  From  the  Potomac  to  the  Penobscot  every  form  of 
the  most  profitable  industry  prevailed,  occupying  many  mil- 
lions of  people  and  employing  many  hundreds  of  millions  of 
capital.  From  the  northern  sea  ports  issued  most  of  the 
exports  of  the  country.     To  them  came  the  imports  that  were 


650  TUE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

to  be  distributed  by  the  railways  which  centered  here,  the 
vast  ramifications  ot"  which  put  the  most  distant  regions  of  tlie 
republic  in  connection  with  tliese  tinancial  and  commercial 
capitals.  Here  also  were  the  leaders  of  thought,  the  best 
colleges  and  educational  institutions,  the  largest  libraries,  the 
most  influential  and  widely-read  newspapers,  here  were  gath- 
ered the  writers  and  artists  of  national  reputation.  Here  was 
transacted  the  largest  amount  and  the  widest  range  of  busi- 
ness, both  with  the  country  at  large  and  with  foreign  nations. 
Here  great  undertakings  were  planned  and  organized;  the 
railroad  and  mining  companies  of  the  distant  West  often  liad 
their  principal  offices  here.  It  was  the  great  heart  of  the 
country  from  which  vital  force  was  sent  out  through  the  vari- 
ous arteries  of  activity  and  to  which  it  came  back  with  its 
gathered  results. 

The  wise  statesmanship,  the  cautious  boldness,  the  enlight- 
ened enterprise  of  the  earlier  times  which  laid  such  solid 
foundations  for  a  new  race  and  nation  were  bearing  fruit  the 
full  and  overflowing  measure  of  which  was  returning  to  the 
spot  where  its  beginnings  had  been  nurtured.  The  East  had 
done  its  utmost  for  the  West;  the  West  liad  found  its  re- 
sources beyond  measure  rich  and  now  made  full  returns 
ungrudgingly.  The  Atlantic  Slope  had  developed  the  best 
and  broadest  characteristics  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the  West 
had  received  and  still  further  Americanized  and  elevated  him, 
and  ail  the  divisions  of  the  new  race  were  now  bdund  together 
by  the  most  valuable  reciprocal  l)enefits  and  relations  of  s^'m- 
pathy  and  interest.  The  East  and  the  Centei-  united  in  the 
development  of  tiie  Pacific  Coast  in  the  same  spirit  of  en- 
lightened liberality,  and  this  region,  which  could  be  reached 
only  through  the  difficulties  and  perils  of  arid  deserts,  sterile 
and  almost  impassible  mountain  plateaus  and  ranges,  or  stormy 
seas,  returned  the  cordial  sentiment  in  the  most  pleasing  and 
useful  form.  A  vast  and  prosperous  etnpire  might  easily 
have  established  and    maintained    independence  and  grown 


'ill 


AN    EXCELLENT    RESULT    OF    LIBEEALITY.  651 

strong  in  stately  grandeur  on  the  genial  shores  of  the  broad 
Pacific  and  among  its  wealth  of  mines — its  mountains  of  gold 
and  silver.  The  natural  barriers  could  not  easily  have  been 
overcome.  All  the  necessary  elements  of  a  boundless  pros- 
perity were  in  its  hand  if  it  chose  independence.  It  had 
already  grown  rich  and  strong  when  the  Valley  and  the  East 
became  involved  in  a  disastrous  Civil  War;  it  could  easily 
have  cut  the  bonds  that  bound  its  fortunes  to  the  Republic 
beyond  the  high  plateau  and  snowy  peaks  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

In  this  case  the  greater  future  of  the  East  and  the  Center 
would  have  been  much  modified  by  confinement  to  activity 
on  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf.  The  large  and  free  activities 
of  a  united  people  would  have  given  place  to  the  etnbarrass- 
ments,  the  jealousies  and  mutually  obstructive  policies  that 
have  so  much  hindered  the  free  progress  of  the  world,  and  of 
which  Canada  is  a  conspicuous  example.  An  imaginary  line 
would  have  arrested  reciprocal  action  and  cut  short  mutual 
profit;  while  the  expenses  of  public  management,  of  general, 
and  many  local,  interests  would  have  been  nearly  doubled  in 
very  many  cases.  The  costly  machinery  of  government  must 
have  been  greatly  enlarged,  the  number  of  officials  much 
increased,  and  a  great  sura  spent  in  mutual  international 
observation  and  formal  intercourse. 

This  misfortune  was  avoided  entirely,  scarcely  existing  even 
as  a  danger,  through  the  operations  of  the  singularly  wise, 
liberal  and  high  toned  policy  toward  the  Territories  and 
unorganized  regions — indeed  by  all  sections  toward  each  other 
— conceived  and  inaugurated  by  the  founders  of  the  Republic 
on  the  Atlantic  Slope.  If,  in  one  case,  antagonisms  grew  up 
and  ripened  into  the  most  lamentable  results,  it  was  from 
causes  they  had  not  introduced,  which  they  wished,  but  did 
not  feel  able,  to  set  aside  and  which  only  after  seventy-five 
years  grew  to  threatening  proportions.  This  high  policy  pre- 
vailed in  the  end,  even  in  this  case,  and  ultimate  harmony 


652  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

and  unwasted  strength  will  be  secured  to  tlie  niiitual  satis- 
faction of  the  North  and  the  South.  California  and  the 
Pacific  Slope  were  faithful  thi'ough  temptation,  as  the  Valley 
had  been  at  an  earlier  period.  No  policy  that  could  waste 
the  common  strength  or  resources  was  heeded.  The  East 
had  ever  been  just  and  liberal,  the  West  corresponded  in 
gratitude  and  fidelity.  The  gold  and  silver  of  the  mountains 
flowed  to  the  East  and  ])assed  into  the  common  channels  of 
trade,  enriching  the  men  of  business — the  merchants,  manu- 
facturers and  commercial  classes — of  the  Atlantic  States,  and 
greatly  hastening  the  development  of  the  new  regions  and 
commencing  industries  of  the  Valley. 

Then  the  barriers  of  distance  and  mountain  heights  disap- 
peared by  the  extension  of  the  telegraph  and  railway  systems 
across  the  plains,  the  mountains  and  deserts;  and  the  tliought, 
the  energy  and  enterprise  of  the  whole  country  were  massed 
and  flowed  freely  back  and  forth  between  the  two  sides  of 
the  vast  continent — and  soon  found  equally  free  course  be- 
tween North  and  South.  Such  are  the  great  results  of  the 
enlightened  experiment  of  the  English  colonists  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast.  The  children  are  reaping  what  the  fathers 
sowed.  All  the  resources  that  lie  in  the  agriculture,  the 
minerals,  the  sea  ports,  the  manufacturing  skill,  of  this  com- 
paratively sterile  region  are  highly  developed  while  the  sur- 
plus wealth  produced  in  the  rest  of  the  country  flows  here  as 
to  its  natural  home.  The  Atlantic  Slope  acted  in  a  large 
minded  and  benevolent  spirit  and  reaps  the  richest  possible 
reward. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  country  was  unified  and 
thoroughly  Americanized  in  the  Great  Valley,  which  put 
Europe  out  the  thoughts  of  the  people  by  concentrating  at- 
tention on  this  vast  interior  and  its  boundless  wealth,  and  by 
making  the  United  States  so  largely  sufficient  to  themsel/es. 
It  may  also  be  said  that  the  whole  country  was  unified  by  the 
Atlantic   Slope,   which  sent  its  children — multitudes  oi    its 


THE  STKONGESr  BOND  OF  UNION.  653 

best,  most  vigorous  and  most  intelligent  citizens — to  colonize 
and  develop  the  other  regions;  gave  them  all  encouragement 
and  aid  when  possible;  and  legislated  for  them  or  left  thera 
free  to  legislate  for  themselves  with  equal  wisdom  and  justice. 
Its  spirit  was  so  enlightened  and  appreciative  that  its  citizens, 
so  transferred  to  virgin  soil,  at  once  perceived  the  broad 
features  of  the  new  situation  by  virtue  of  the  comparative 
freedom  from  narrowness  and  prejudice  of  their  Eastern  edu- 
cation, and  the  intimate  sympathy  that  existed  through  all 
parts  of  the  country  united  the  East  and  the  West  in  the 
most  perfect  bonds.  This  common  sympathy  was  the  natural 
fruit  of  the  highminded  system  of  thought  and  conduct  estab- 
lished and  cultivated  in  the  East. 

It  is  true  that  this  was  largely  due  to  community  of  busi- 
ness interests  and  so,  in  many  respects,  had  a  material  basis; 
but  this  fact  does  not  diminish,  it  enhances,  the  estimate  to 
be  placed  on  Eastern  prudence  and  wise,  far-seeing  manage- 
ment. No  people  before  known  to  history  had  been  clear- 
sighted and  self-restrained  enough  to  leave  natural  laws  to 
exert  all  their  influence  unmolested.  These  Americans  of 
the  Eastern  Coast  had  the  unusual  penetration  to  discover 
when  to  refrain  from  interference  and  when  and  how  to  give 
effective  aid.  The  fundamental  Law,  or  Cf)nstitution,  was 
So  clear  and  just  as  to  allow  the  perception,  or  instinct,  of 
each  time  and  place  to  regulate  current  affairs  according  to 
their  requirements.  This  is  no  slight  praise,  and  met  with 
no  measured  reward.  Complete  confidence,  reciprocity  and 
unity  were  the  result,  and  the  gains  of  the  East  were  un- 
bounded. When  wealth  was  acquired  in  the  Valley  and  on 
the  Pacific  Slope  it  tended  to  flow  east  with  a  fulness  propor- 
tioned to  the  freedom  with  which  it  might  ever  act. 

Business  laws  may,  and  do,  reciprocate  justice  by  warm 
gratitude.  They  ever  tend  to  bless  those  who,  by  giving 
them  entire  liberty,  enable  them  to  secure  the  highest  success. 
The  violation  of  this  rule  in  the  later  part  of  the  eighteenth 


654  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

century  by  the  English  Governiiieiit  cost  it  its  thirteen 
American  colonies;  and  the  recognition  of  it  in  the  nine- 
teenth has  preserved  to  it  Canada  and  all  its  other  colonies. 
So  not  even  the  large  number  of  southerners  who  found  their 
way  to  California  and  Oregon  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War 
could  incline  the  new  States  of  the  Pacific  Slope  to  seek  inde- 
pendence of  the  mother  Republic  east  of  the  mountains. 

The  Original  States  therefore  had,  in  a  large  measure,  to 
thank  their  own  free  and  highrainded  policy  for  the  extraor- 
dinary stimulus  which  so  developed  all  their  interests. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    DEVELOPMENT    AND    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

Settlements  were  first  made  on  the  bays  and  rivers  having 
the  readiest  approach  to  the  sea.  From  these  tide-water 
points  population  spread  in  the  direction  of  the  best  neigh- 
boring lands,  which  lay  chiefly  in  the  river  valleys.  There 
being  an  average  distance  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains  of 
one  luiiidred  and  fifty  miles  in  New  England  and  two  hundred 
further  south,  with  much  land  of  fine  (quality  and  very  mod- 
erate markets  in  the  early  days,  there  was  little  temptation  to 
brave  the  dangers  of  the  interior  for  a  long  time.  Even  the 
upper  Susquehanna  was  unoccupied  at  a  comparatively  late 
period.  Its  northern  tributaries  as  well  as  tiie  Mohawk — the 
principal  western  branch  of  the  Hudson — were  occupied  by 
the  Iroquois  Indians,  or  Five  Nations,  the  most  imperious  and 
politic  and  the  most  dangerous  to  ofl'end  of  all  the  tribes 
known  in  those  times.  It  was  not  till  the  generation  preced- 
ing that  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  or  about  1750,  that  consid- 
erable settlements  began  to  form  under  the  eastern  shadow  of 
the  mountains.  The  contest  with  the  French  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  interior  of  the  continent,  during  which  they  had 
opportunity  to  compare  themselves  adequately  with  European 
soldiery,  made  them  acquainted  with  their  own  eminent 
qualities  and,  at  the  same  time,  more  fully  with  that  interior. 

At  this  time  the  spirit  of  unrest  and  adventure  seemed  to 
take  possession  of  them  in  a  much  greater  degree  than  before. 
They  ceased  to  fear  the  Indians,  and  boldly  ventured  into  the 
depths  of  the  vast  forests  stretching  eastward  and  westward 
from  the  mountains.  By  the  time  the  Revolutionary  War 
closed  they  had  formed  many  new  settlements,  and  acquired 
title  to  a  section  of  country   several   times   larger  than  that 

655 


656  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

actually  occupied  in  1750.  Up  tn  tin,-  time  population  had 
swung  away  from  tiie  Atlantic  tide  waters  very  slowly  and 
reluctantly;  part  of  it  now  renounced  its  attachment  to 
the  coast  and  eagerly  .sought  distant  localities.  The  fine  val- 
leys of  central  Pennsylvania  and  central  and  southern  New 
York  were  as  quickly  settled  as  the  eagerness  to  cross  the 
mountains  to  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries  would  permit.  Tlie 
Five  Nations  of  central  and  western  New  York  had  taken  the 
English  side  in  the  war.  At  its  conclusion  they  found  their 
power  broken,  their  prestige  gone,  and  many  of  them  passed 
ovef  into  Canada  leaving  one  of  the  finest  farming  regions 
on  the  continent  open  to  settlement  by  the  freemen  who  had 
shaken  off  the  control  of  the  most  enterprising  nation  in 
Eui'ope. 

This  region,  which  now  seems  but  a  step  from  the  coast, 
was  then  reached  with  great  ditSculty.  Although  the  chain 
of  the  Alleghanies  here  lost  its  usual  height  it  was  still  repre- 
sented by  an  endless  series  of  hills  and  valleys,  and  the  prin- 
cipal streams  issuing  east  and  south  were  so  shallow  and  ra])id 
as  to  be  of  little  value  as  common  highways.  Yet  population 
steadily  pushed  up  the  valleys,  and  was  distributed  over  tlie 
fertile  hills  by  tens  of  thousands.  Soon  the  Erie  Canal  was 
conceived  by  Clinton,  a  Governor  of  New  l^ork  truly  repre- 
sentative of  his  race  and  century,  and  in  the  very  dawn  of 
great  American  enterprises,  soon  after  the  close  of  an  exhaust- 
ing war,  it  was  commenced,  being  completed  in  eight  years, 
or  in  1825.  It  joined  one  of  the  water  systems  of  the  Great 
Valley  with  the  tide-waters  of  the  Atlantic,  and  was  of  incal- 
culable advantage  to  the  West,  to  the  eastern  cities  and  to 
central  and  western  New  York.  The  Ontario  basin,  the 
charming  valleys  opening  into  it,  the  verdant  and  fertile  hills 
about  it  were  immediately  occupied,  and  their  abundant  sur- 
plus products  found  little  difficulty  in  reaching  a  remunera- 
tive market. 

This  region  was  greatly  favored.  Almost  the  first  extensive 


EARLY    ADVANTAGES   AND    PEOGEESS   OF    NEW    YORK.        657 

line  of  railway  was  built  through  it,  and  it  then  had  a  double 
outlet  for  travel  and  produce.  The  railroad  and  the  canal 
were  natural  rivals,  and  rendered  any  oppressive  monopoly 
of  carriage  impossible,  so  that  the  agriculturist  here  had  ev- 
ery possible  advantage — the  soil  and  climate  of  the  Great 
Valley,  nearness  to  the  best  markets,  and  the  cheapest  possible 
transport  to  the  sea-board  some  years  in  advance  of  more 
distant  regions.  A  speedy  and  thorough  development  and 
unexampled  prosperity  were  the  result.  With  eight  thousand 
square  miles  of  surface  less  than  Illinois,  one-third  uf  it  was 
rendered  comparatively  unprofitable  by  the  extreme  rough- 
ness of  parts  of  the  mountain  system  that  crossed  it.  The 
northeastern  part  of  the  State  is  underlaid  by  primitive  rock, 
or  granite,  and  comparatively  barren,  that  which  is  not  encum- 
bered with  mountains  belonging  to  the  first  primitive  conti- 
nent and  overlaid  with  comparatively  little  recent  soil.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  State,  however,  lay  within  the  borders  of  the  in- 
terior basin  during  the  rock-making  periods,  and  have  repre- 
sentatives of  nearly  all  the  rocks  formed  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  which  are  here  also  very  generally  covered  with  the 
soft  and  chemically-rich  alluvium  that  renders  that  valley  the 
great  granary  of  the  world.  West  of  the  mountain  chain 
near  the  Hudson,  the  hills  have  a  rounded  outline  and  are  fer- 
tile to  their  very  tops.  The  valleys  and  the  basin  of  Lake 
Ontario  are  almost  as  rich  in  soil  as  tlie  prairie  and  river 
bottoms  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

With  all  these  advantages  New  York  early  took  the  first 
place  as  an  agricultural  State,  and  held  it  with  ease  up  to 
1870.  At  that  time  the  value  of  the  farms  in  the  State  was 
§1,272,000,000,  being  .$218,000,000  more  than  Ohio— the  next 
in  rank — and  $238,000,000  more  than  Peimsylvania — no 
other  State  then  reaching  the  value  of  one  thousand  million. 
It  is  not  unlikely,  however,  that  several  of  the  Valley  States 
of  much  greater  size,  all  whose  rolling  surfaces  are  adapted 
to  the  most  profitable  use,  may  now  be  found  ahead  in 
42 


658  THE   ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

this  branch  of  development.  The  reduction  of  freight  tariffs 
by  the  multiplication  of  railways  and  by  the  use  of  three 
water  routes  has  helped  greatly,  in  recent  years,  to  equalize 
the  disadvantages  of  distance  from  the  greater  markets,  and 
the  rapid  increase  of  manufacturing  and  of  towns  and  great 
cities  in  the  central  regions  has  produced  a  vast  local  market 
of  their  own.  Yet  New  York  has  permanent  advantages  of 
position  and  resources,  and  must  always  take  high  rank  as  an 
agricultural  State.  Her  possession  of  the  commercial  metrop- 
olis of  tlie  country  also  causes  her  to  take  first  rank  in  man- 
ufacturing— the  State  following  next  in  the  amount  of  manu- 
factured procjucts  falling  nearly  $75,000,000  below,  the  third 
nearly  $230,000,000  below.  The  census  of  1870  gave  her 
manufacturing  products  a  valuation  of  more  than  $785,000,000, 
those  of  Pennsylvania  at  $711,000,000,  and  of  Massachusetts 
at  $553,000,000.  No  Western  State  then  manufactured  to 
the  extent  of  $270,000,000.  A  large  part  of  the  imports  ot 
the  country  are  received  at  New  York,  and  a  large  part 
of  Western  produce  reaches  New  York  City  for  distri- 
bution or  export.  Much  of  the  product  of  precious  met- 
als from  the  mines  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  reaches 
here,  also. 

New  York  is  therefore,  in  many  ways  at  once,  the  most  im- 
portant State  in  the  Union,  and  New  York  City  is  the  Me- 
tropolis of  the  New  World  as  well  as  of  the  Great  Republic. 
They  are  both  likely  to  maintain  most  of  these  relations  for 
an  indefinite  time,  some  of  them  probably  always.  Many 
other  States  are  likely  to  surpass  her  in  farm  values,  as  they 
already  begin  to  do  in  acreage  in  use,  and  it  is  possible  that, 
in  time,  the  lead  in  manufacturing  may  be  taken  by  some  of 
the  western  States.  This,  however,  is  uncertain.  Position 
and  possession  of  the  lead  in  commerce  and  finance  unite  to 
secure  her  future  leadership  of  some,  at  least,  of  the  most 
important  interests  of  the  country, and  may  maintain  as  great 
a  rate  of  progress  in  manufactures  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past. 


PENNSYLVANIA    AND    THE    COAST   FUKTHEE    EAST.  659 

Pennsylvania  is  another  State  of  immense  and  peculiar  re- 
sources. Between  the  Susquehanna  and  Delaware  rivers  in 
the  southeastern  part  of  the  State  is  some  of  the  finest  land 
in  the  East;  the  valleys  among  the  mountains  are  extremely 
rich,  and  the  value  of  the  coal  within  the  State  is  beyond 
computation.  About  one-third  of  this  State  lies  west  of  the 
water-shed  separating  the  Great  Valley  and  the  Atlantic  slope; 
but  probably  the  most  valuable  beds  of  anthracite  coal  in  the 
world  are  in  the  eastern  section,  within  easy  reach  by  railroad 
and  shipping  of  the  largest  seaboard  cities  and  manufacturing 
points.  Tlie  railways  across  the  mountains  take  vast  quanti- 
ties of  western  produce  and  trade  to  her  great  city  and  sea- 
port— Philadelphia — and  manufactures  flourish  beyond  meas- 
ure, being  second  only  to  those  of  New  York.  The  Ohio  on 
the  west,  the  Delaware  on  the  east,  innumerable  railways,  a 
position  approaching  the  first  rank  on  the  east,  and  an  im- 
portant one  within  the  Great  Valley  at  the  west,  are  all  favor- 
able to  her  progress  in  commerce,  manufactures  and  general 
development. 

New  England  must  always  be  eminent  both  for  manufactures 
and  commerce.  Its  relations  with  Canada  and  the  vast  unde- 
veloped resources  of  that  New  Dominion,  with  Europe  and 
the  general  commerce  of  the  Atlantic,  the  intelligence  and 
enterprise  of  its  people,  assure  to  it  a  future  development 
difficult  to  overestimate.  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  with  the 
eastern  parts  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  lie  just  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  some  of  the  most  recent  geological  for- 
mations are  found  there.  Although  the  soil  is  much  encum- 
bered with  sand,  that  is  very  much  enriched  by  the  wash  of 
tlie  long  slope  further  west  while  these  sections  were  in  part 
under  water.  Vast  quantities  of  marl,  collected  at  the  former 
mouths  of  rivers  and  an  ancient  coast  line,  supply  it  fertil- 
izers, the  sands  retain  much  vegetable  loam,  receive  and  re- 
tain the  warmth  of  the  sun,  and  are  well  watered  by  the  clouds. 
They  are  therefore  very  fertile  by  the  aid  of  phosphates  and 


660  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

other  stimulants  of  vegetation  so  abundantly  obtained  beneath 
the  surface  and  from  the  sea.  This  is  the  garden  and  orch- 
ard of  the  East.  Already  largely  developed  as  such,  a  great 
future  awaits  it  as  manufactures,  commerce  and  trade  increase 
the  cities  in  its  neighborhood  requiring  vegetable  food  sup- 
plies and  fruit. 

Virginia  and  Maryland  back  of  the  immediate  sandy  coast 
have  mucli  good  soil  which  has  been  misused,  or  not  im- 
proved, under  the  unfortunate  labor  system  now  banished. 
The  Chesapeake  Bay  with  its  numerous  ramifications  and  am- 
ple river  moutlis,  gives  them  excellent  commercial  facilities. 
The  relations  of  the  western  portions  with  both  the  Lower 
and  Upper  Basin  of  the  Great  Yalley  through  gaps  in  the 
mountains  will  tend  to  increase  commerce  and  trade  here,  as 
well  as  manufactures,  and  all  the  elements  of  fertility  the  soil 
possesses  will  be  made  available,  at  no  very  distant  date. 
Great  activity  and  extreme  prosperity  will  soon  render  this 
region,  with  its  innumerable  harbors,  its  almost  semi-tropical 
but  salubrious  climate  and  excellent  soil,  prominent  among 
the  richer  sections  of  the  Union.  North  and  South  Carolina, 
the  Atlantic  border  of  Georgia  and  Florida  have  much  good 
soil  arranged  in  bands,  from  the  coast  to  the  mountains,  with 
various  adaptations.  The  Swampy  coast  will  some  day  be 
diked  and  drained,  furnishing  a  large  surface  extremely  fer- 
tile and  adapted  to  special  uses  of  great  importance.  Cotton, 
tobacco,  rice  and  rare  tropical  fruits  will  produce  immense 
values  when  the  lowlands  shall  be  fully  utilized,  the  region  in 
general  will  lend  important  support  to  the  activities  of  the 
coast  further  north  and  supply  many  comforts  and  sources  of 
wealth  to  the  country  at  large — some  perhaps  not  now  sus- 
pected. Its  real  development  has  not  yet  begun.  Its  signif- 
icance in  commerce,  in  manufactures  and  trade  will  be  appre- 
ciated only  in  the  future  when  the  regions  about  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  are  in  full  developnaent,  when  the  South  at  large  has 
taken  its  proper  place  in  the  Union,  when  the  Isthmus  Canal 


HOW   THE    SECTIONS    AID   EACH    OTHER.  661 

is  in  full  use,  and  South  American  countries  reach  a  fair  in- 
dustrial development. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  each  division  of  the  Atlantic  Slope  has 
a  specialty,  a  series  of  relations  that  are  to  become  far  more 
significant  in  the  future  than  they  are  at  present,  and  which 
insure  great  future  growth,  at  the  least.  How  vast  this  is  to 
be  in  the  case  of  the  northern  and  southern  seaboard  can  not 
yet  be  fully  foreseen.  The  prosperity  of  outside  regions 
lying  contiguous  must  determine  this  to  some  extent.  The 
northeast  and  the  southeast  will  be  very  important  elements 
of  prosperity  to  these  neighboring  regions,  of  necessity,  and 
may  soon  become  immensely  so.  They  must  grow  with  the 
rest  of  the  country  as  the  middle  Atlantic  States  have  done 
and  are  doing,  although  less  in  proportion,  being  at  one  side. 
When  Canada  reaches  her  maximum  rate  of  growth  and 
Mexico,  the  West  Indies  and  South  America  are  in  full  in- 
dustrial career — with  reciprocity  of  trade  with  the  great  cen- 
tral republic — the  balance  of  advantage  now  in  favor  of  the 
middle  regions  will  be  very  much — perhaps  fully — redressed. 
As  Canada  and  New  England  have  an  important  geological 
unity  so  their  industrial  and  commercial  interdependencies 
are  more  important  to  each  other  than  almost  any  others. 
New  York  City  is  as  much  the  natural  metropolis  of  Upper 
Canada  as  it  is  of  western  New  York,  and  New  England  and 
Lower  Canada  have  supreme  interests  in  common.  The  coal 
of  Nova  Scotia,  the  lumber  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  are 
necessary  to  New  England,  the  fisheries  should  be  held  in  com- 
mon if  natural  relations  were  to  control  them,  and  the  products 
of  the  vast  northwest  of  the  Dominion  should  reach  the  coast 
by  Boston,  Portland  and  other  harbors,  for  part  of  the  year 
at  least.  The  large  field  for  manufactures  furnished  by  the 
United  States  must  be  fully  opened  to  Lower  Canadians  on 
equal  terms  with  New  England  before  their  prosperity  can 
be  complete. 

All  these  questions  will  be  arranged  in  the  mutual  interest 


662  THE   ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

of  the  various  parties,  in  time.  Industrial  forces  will  learn 
to  act  independently  of  political  difl'erences,  for  the  Age  of 
Reason  has  already  dawned.  Many  other  questions  have 
been  settled  by  the  law  of  interest  during  the  last  half  cen- 
tury and  all  the  rest  will  be  arranged  in  their  turn.  This 
certainly  secures  the  future  of  the  North  and  South  Atlantic 
States.  Their  era  of  colossal  development  has  only  begun. 
New  England,  which  has  done  so  much,  is  to  do  incompara- 
bly more;  and  the  States  south  of  Virginia  have  every  reason 
to  consider  their  past  and  present  as  nothing  compared  with 
their  future.  Already  the  surplus  of  the  northern  and  west- 
ern regions  of  the  Valley  are  beginning  to  tlow  from  Cincin- 
nati, Louisville,  St.  Louis,  and  many  other  points  through 
the  defiles  of  Tennessee  and  northern  Georgia  to  Savaimah 
and  the  southeast  coast.  The  southern  basin  will  soon  begin 
to  pour  its  own  growing  flood  of  production  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, to  which,  in  due  time,  will  be  added  the  vast  treasures 
of  northern  Mexico,  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  southern  Cal- 
ifornia. Great  industrial  interests  in  the  Antilles,  the  north- 
eastern States  of  South  America,  and  in  western  Africa  are 
springing  into  life  and  will  arouse  activity  along  the  south 
Atlantic  Coast  of  the  United  States  to  correspond. 

There  is  to  be  no  monopoly  of  wealth  and  progress  here- 
after. What  natural  highways  can  not  do  for  each  section 
artificial  ones  will  accomplish,  and  Unity  in  Diversity,  dif- 
fused prosperity,  interdependent  resources  and  wealth  will 
cement  the  political  union  while  it  assures  the  freedom  and 
sufficient  independence  of  each  of  the  component  parts. 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE    EAST    AS    A    LEADER. 


The  great,  smooth,  fertile  center  of  the  United  States — 
variously  and  endlessly  productive  from  the  higher  slopes  of 
the  Alleghanies  to  the  steep  sides  of  the  main  ridge  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains— naturally  impresses  itself  deeply  on  the 
character  and  history  of  the  people.  The  unity  of  its  river 
system  and  the  continuity  of  its  almost  level  surface  from 
Fort  Benton  to  Pensacola  and  from  Pittsburgh  and  Duluth 
to  New  Orleans  and  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  furnish  a 
breadth  to  activity  and  a  fullness  of  reward  to  industry  that 
give  it  indisputable  rank  as  a  leader.  The  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple are  already  there,  and,  since  majorities  rule,  the  Great 
Valley  can  give  a  decisive  answer  to  every  question  on  which 
its  whole  population  unite. 

The  great  golden  West  beyond  the  plains  has  already 
shown  itself  an  important  factor  in  national  aflFairs.  How- 
ever small  its  population  it  is  Unancially  strong — a  treasure 
vault,  a  bank  of  hard  cash  for  the  country — and  is  daily  ac- 
quiring weight  by  its  many  resources  and  the  wonderful 
future  whose  grand  outlines  can  even  now  be  slightly 
sketched.  It  does  not  require  the  gifts  of  a  prophet  to 
comprehend  that  the  grand  Republic  of  the  New  World, 
with  its  new  race  crowned  by  the  halo  of  industrial  and  com- 
mercial genius,  has  not  reached  a  limit  at  the  Pacific  shore. 
It  is  a  new  beginning,  a  fresh  commencement  of  growth,  at 
least  as  much  more  majestic  than  any  possible  with  the  At- 
lantic alone  as  a  commercial  highway  as  the  Pacitic  is  more 
ample  than  the  former  modest  ocean. 

America  began  to  loom  up  vast  and  mighty  to  the  eyes  of 
Europe,  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of   the  Atlantic 

663 


664  THE   ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

Slope  began  to  gather  princely  fortunes,  and  the  Great  Val- 
ley to  bring  all  -its  immense  surface  into  market  for  use  when 
the  first  State  sprung  up  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  whole 
country  became  conscious  of  its  greatness  when  the  gold  of 
the  West  began  to  flow  in  a  powerful  tide  of  surplus  capital 
into  the  channels  of  trade,  furnished  the  means  to  build  rail- 
roads and  developed  all  lines  of  business  in  equal  proportions. 
The  wealth  of  the  Pacific  Slope  has  not  yet  been  gauged,  Pa- 
cific commerce  has  only  begun.  The  view  of  future  possible 
progress  by  these  means  stretches  ofi"  beyond  the  Pacific  a 
boundless  horizon.  The  Pacific  Slope  began  at  once  a  mag- 
nificent leadership. 

But  the  Atlantic  Coast  was  the  birthplace  and  is  still  the 
home  of  the  brilliant  Anglo-American  Race  and  its  mighty 
fortunes.  All  that  is  most  excellent  in  thought,  in  character,, 
in  conduct,  in  institutions,  inventions  and  industries  first 
sprang  up  here  before  being  transferred  to  the  larger  field 
and  the  broader  career  of  the  West.  Nor  was  the  East  pro- 
lific only  of  beginnings.  Stimulated  by  a  large  field  opened 
for  supplies  in  the  West  it  gave  itself  to  perfecting  what  it 
had  begotten.  Its  children  it  educated  with  zeal  and  care- 
fulness, after  the  most  approved  methods,  before  sending 
them  West.  It  labored  after  the  best  systems  of  law,  of  pol- 
itics, of  religion,  and  contributed  them  to  the  new  commu- 
nities beyond  the  Alleghanies.  Its  press,  its  forum,  its 
pulpit  grew  constantly  pui-er,  more  intelligent  and  high 
toned,  more  nervous  and  forcible,  and  labored  earnestly  for 
tlie  best  interests  of  the  young  States  and  Territories.  Men- 
tal and  moral  activity  constantly  i-ose  in  ardor  and  deepened 
in  their  intensity,  re-arranging,  improving,  inventing,  to  pre- 
sent the  best  and  most  perfect  products  of  their  labors  to  the 
West. 

Many  of  its  best  educators,  its  most  promising  youth,  its 
most  experienced  and  successful  men  of  business  it  supplied 
to  the  new  States,  that  they  might  lay  the  best  possible  foun- 


THE    EAST   MATURES    AND    FLOUEISHES.  665 

dations  for  future  excellence.  Much  of  the  legislation  of  the 
nation  for  the  new  regions  was  in  the  same  kindly  and  unself- 
ish spirit.  But  the  millions  of  its  children  it  sent  west  did 
not  leave  empty  homes  and  dwindling  cities  and  industries 
behind  them.  Those  who  were  left  received  other  millions 
of  immigrants,  the  peasants  and  artisans  of  Europe,  put  them 
in  the  fields,  the  kitchens,  the  workshops,  the  manufactories, 
and  trained  them  to  be  good  American  citizens.  They  did 
not  allow  themselves  to  be  overrun  or  controlled,  to  be  out- 
voted or  their  progress  embarrassed,  because  their  own  peo- 
ple were  drained  away  and  strangers  took  their  places.  The 
vigor  of  order  and  patriotism  never  waned  on  the  Atlantic 
Slope.  It  was  a  most  remarkable  history.  Rome,  depleted 
of  its  citizens  of  the  old  and  vigorous  stock  in  the  course  of 
its  conquests,  lost  its  purity  and  self-command,  and  became  a 
hideously  criminal  and  dying  Empire.  The  Atlantic  States 
were  constantly  sending  oif  the  old  stock  in  a  widening  and 
deepening  tide  of  emigration  to  a  score  of  States  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  yet  maintaining  and  strengthening  the  old 
tendencies  with  constantly  increasing  liberality  and  thorough- 
ness. 

It  was,  therefore,  a  natural  and  necessary  leader,  and 
maintained  a  general  and  very  natural  control  over  the  devel- 
opment of  the  new  regions.  If  the  young  States  learned 
new  lessons  the  old  mothers  conned  them  carefully  and  appro- 
priated all  the  good  of  them.  They  never  fell  into  dotage  and 
stereotyped  forms,  maintaining  a  healthy  progressiveness, 
constantly  learning,  rejecting  the  imperfect  and  adopting  the 
improved,  or,  at  least,  making  fair  trial  of  all  that  seemed  to 
be  so.  Its  business  men  projected  western  enterprises,  made 
investments  and  profited  by  new  openings  for  gain  and  the 
great  rise  in  property  values  produced  by  the  increase  of  set- 
tlement. Although  this  was  in  the  pursuit  of  personal  gain 
it  was  a  great  advantage  to  a  new  country  to  have  men  of 
foresight  and  resources  of  capital  interested  in  its  growth  and 
prosperity. 


66B  THE    ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

So,  for  their  own  ends,  but  not  less  to  the  well-being  of 
the  western  pioneers  and  settlers,  New  York  dug  a  canal  that 
connected  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  and  Hudson  River,  and 
furnished  water  transportation  from  the  upper  Valley  to  the 
sea;  Pennsylvania  improved  the  road  from  Delaware  River 
to  Pittsburgh,  and  dug  more  or  less  canals;  and  a  national 
road,  called  the  Cumberland,  smoothed  the  land  passage  from 
the  Potomac  to  the  Ohio.  The  genius  of  Fulton  and  the 
capital  of  the  East  had  perfected  the  steamboat  which  Hud- 
son River,  where  it  was  first  used,  may  be  said  to  have  pre- 
sented to  the  Ohio. 

Here  was  the  appropriate  work  of  a  leader  done  as  effi- 
ciently as  could  be  desired.  In  all  good  words  and  works  per- 
taining to  civilization,  industry  and  general  progress  it  in- 
structed and  aided  the  West  as  only  an  old  country  can  a  new 
one.  But  there  was  a  great  want  of  capital  and  the  East  was 
itself  a  new  country  with  no  large  stores  of  accumulations. 
The  commerce  and  manufactures  of  a  great  country  had  to  be 
created  after  the  western  pioneers  had  commenced  to  mul- 
tiply new  States.  The  surplus  products  of  the  Great  Valley 
itself  were  largely  employed  by  the  diligent  enterprise  of  the 
East  in  gathering  the  necessary  wealth.  It  stimulated  pro- 
duction West  by  its  great  activities;  exported,  imported, 
manufactured,  invented,  multiplied  machinery  that  econo- 
mized human  muscle,  and,  in  a  thousand  ways,  contributed  to 
Western  success- — but  in  nothing  more  than  by  its  own  suc- 
cessful finance.  The  increase  of  its  own  wealth,  its  manufac- 
tories and  cities  and  commerce  furnished  vital  force  to  the 
new  States  by  giving  them  markets.  Otherwise  they  would 
have  been  buried  and  helpless  under  the  surfeit  of  their  own 
unsalable  products. 

Such  was  its  successful  leadership  up  to  the  introduction 
of  Railroads.  The  beginnings  of  raili-oad  enterprises  date 
about  1830;  but  they  made  slow  progress  for  inany  years. 
Time  was  required  to  learn  the  methods  of  organization  and 


A   CONS0MSLATE    BUSINESS    LEADERSHIP.  667 

operation,  and  especially  to  obtain  the  requisite  amount  of 
capital  to  invest  at  once  in  all  the  numerous  branches  of  bus- 
iness connected  with  them  and  supporting  them.  But  the 
energy  and  activity  of  the  Eastern  cities  made  them  money- 
centers  to  which  the  surplus  funds  of  the  whole  country 
flowed.  By  the  time  general  development  was  fully  prepared 
for  great  railroad  systems  California  gold  came  by  hundreds 
of  millions  to  supply  the  remaining  want.  The  Atlantic 
States  had  already  pushed  railroads  from  the  sea  to  the  bord- 
ers of  the  Valley.  They  now  extended  them  to  the  Mississippi 
and  completed  the  outline  eastward  of  that  River  from  the 
the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf. 

By  this  time,  too,  the  system  of  electric  telegraphing  had 
been  perfected  at  the  East,  and  spread  in  a  much  larger  net- 
work of  lines  of  instant  communication.  What  leadership 
could  have  been  more  consummate  and  admirable  than  all 
this?  It  is  true  that  all  this  inured  to  its  own  profit,  to  the 
extension  of  its  business,  and  even,  in  a  large  degree,  to  a 
monopoly  of  it.  The  country  was  as  if  concentrated,  or  cen- 
tered, at  the  East.  Yet  it  was  an  equal  advantage  to  the  coun- 
try so  centered.  Commerce  must  have  its  depots  and  points 
of  departure  on  the  seacoast,  and  manufactures  cost  too  much 
in  the  building  up  to  be  readily  transferable.  To  be  within 
cheap  and  speedy  reach  of  them  was  an  extreme  advantage. 
In  time  the  growth  in  trade  and  manufactures  would  be  dif- 
fused by  the  very  means  that  now  gathered  them  at  one  side. 

Thus  the  East  cared  for  foreign  interests  and  internal  com- 
municatifm,and  greatly  prospered  by  it,  while  the  West  gave 
all  its  attention  to  the  development  of  its  magnificent  terri- 
tory; its  principal  gain  lying  in  what  it  newly  built  and  in 
the  facilities  it  collected  for  producing  an  annual  income. 
The  East  made  the  ready  money  and  reaped  the  general  mov- 
able harvest,  and  grew  most  comfortably  and  desirably  pros- 
perous. 

Then,  wise  and  far-seeing  as  ever,  it  took  measures  to  retain 


668  THE   ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

the  leadership  it  had  gained  against  the  dispersing  influence 
of  steam  and  telegraph.  Great  centers,  populous  cities,  large 
manufactories  began  to  grow  up  on  the  lakes  and  rivers  of 
the  Great  Valley.  Had  the  East  rested  on  its  laurels  it 
would  have  become  comparatively  insignificant — merely  the 
place  of  embarkation  and  debarkation  of  a  part  of  the  over- 
sea trade  of  the  more  weighty  section  of  the  country  across 
the  Alleghanies.  But  the  vigor  of  its  early  days  still  re- 
mained. It  held  the  financial  and  intellectual  capitals — 
thought  and  planned  with  a  boldness  and  wisdom  that  main- 
tained its  pre-eminence  by  ever  new  and  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  national  welfare.  This  was  a  line  of  development, 
a  direction  of  growth  that  had  made  it  the  greatest  factor  in 
the  progress  of  the  Anglo- American  race.  There  is,  as  yet,  no 
sign  of  weakening  or  faltering  in  this  growth.  Great  enter- 
prises in  the  Valley,  and  the  mining,  railroad  building  and 
commerce  of  the  Pacific  Slope  are  inspired  and  guided  from 
New  York  and  Boston.  If  a  broad  and  brilliant  plan  occurs 
to  a  citizen  resident  in  some  other  section  he  comes  here  for 
consultation,  organization  and  support;  or,  commencing  else- 
where, fails  of  sustained  comprehension  and  aid  and  his 
scheme  falls  into  Eastern  hands  before  it  can  succeed. 

It  is  intellectual  pre-eminence  that  thus  maintains  leader- 
ship of  progress.  Possibly  it  will  always  remain  so.  Rail- 
roads in  the  West  more  and  more  combine  to  secure  the 
readiest  and  cheapest  line  to  the  Eastern  seaboard.  Great 
operations  of  all  kinds  designed  to  gather  profit  from  a  world- 
wide field  find  this  the  best  location  for  a  base.  Though  at 
one  side  it  still  maintains  many  of  the  prominent  features  of 
a  general  center.  The  world  of  men — the  human  race — is 
becoming  so  unified  and  so  accessible  in  its  most  distant  and 
difficult  retreats  by  the  help  of  electricity  and  steam  that  it 
matters  much  less  than  formerly  where  the  center  from  which 
organization  and  impulse  proceed  is  located.  One  side  or 
the  other  of  a  mountain  chain  makes  less  diff'erence  than 


THE    LEADEESHIP   OF    MATUEE   THOUGHT   AND    SKILL.        669 

how  the  people  have  learned  to  think  and  act.  Where  the 
thinking  is  wisest  and  the  action  the  most  prompt  and  effective 
is  the  necessary  center.  The  East  has  held  and  long  will  hold 
this  leadership  without  any  serious  envy  or  anger  in  the  other 
sections.  They  are  only  too  glad  to  profit  by  new,  brilliant 
and  invaluable  inventions,  suggestions  and  improvements. 

Light  bursts  periodically  from  the  matured  thought  and 
acquired  skill  of  the  East.  It  has  made  the  most  of  steam 
for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  country;  it  has  perfected  instru- 
ments to  use  the  mysterious  power  of  electricity  to  overcome 
space  and  time  still  more  completely;  and  it  is  diligently  labor- 
ing to  adapt  that  wonderful  force  to  other  uses.  Through  the 
intelligent  enterprise  of  its  capitalists  the  Electric  Light  prom- 
ises to  become  an  economical  illuminator  for  the  world  of 
men,  to  be  used  with  far  less  expense  and  danger  in  all  the 
business  and  homes  of  the  people.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
it  will  also  become  a  motive  force  so  easily  diffused,  so  per- 
fectly tamed  and  deprived  of  the  power  to  harm,  and  so  valu- 
able for  use  in  larger  or  smaller  degrees  of  energy,  as  to 
speedily  revolutionize  the  systems  of  industry  we  have  not 
yet  ceased  to  admire  as  illustrations  of  vast  improvement  in 
the  conditions  of  modern  life. 

The  East  is  ever  at  work  on  a  thousand  schemes  of  a  sim- 
ilar nature,  using  its  discipline,  its  capital,  its  leisure,  in  test- 
ing combinations,  inventions  and  plans  whose  success  would 
be  invaluable  to  mankind.  The  Atlantic  Slope  is  the  busy 
brain  of  the  Anglo-American  people.  From  the  recesses  of 
that  brain  the  means  and  instruments  for  making  the  most 
of  the  great  resources  of  the  country  in  the  shortest  time 
have  come.  It  is  trained  to  act  as  Thinker  and  Guide.  It  has 
the  liberality  to  think  and  act  in  the  interest  of  all  and  with 
a  successful  prudence  that  has  made  it  immensely  rich  in  that 
process.  It  must,  necessarily,  long  hold  the  pre-eminence  its 
own  abilities  so  thoughtfully  employed  have  gained  for  it. 
Kindly,  broad,  and  just,  it  has  always  substantially  identified 


670  THE   ATLANTIC    SLOPE. 

its  interests  with  those  of  other  sections  so  that  they  have  no 
desire  or  occasion  to  reject  its  lead.  New  discoveries,  greater 
and  more  beneficial  improvements  are  to  come  from  it  in  the 
future.     Its  career  as  a  leader  has,  apparently,  only  begun. 

We  have  now  passed  under  review  the  whole  region  forming 
the  body  of  the  Republic  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
from  the  possessions  of  England  on  the  north  to  Spanish 
lands  and  waters  on  the  south.  There  is  no  other  such  region 
on  the  earth,  no  people  whose  character  and  history  and  fu- 
ture have  so  much  of  which  it  has  every  reason  to  be  proud. 
To  say  this  is  not  to  reproach  any  other  country  or  people,  or 
to  imply  that  noble  qualities  are  confined  to  these  republi- 
cans. We  shall  see  how  valiantly  and  hopefully  Canada  is 
following  a  parallel  path,  and  how  vigorous  and  imperial  are 
the  qualities  of  the  English  stock  at  the  present  time.  As 
these  are  in  the  closest  relations  with  us  a  sketch  of  them  is 
added  as  information  and  to  show  the  parallel.  Other  nations 
have  eminent  specialties,  but  the  consideration  of  them  lies 
outside  the  view  of  this  work. 

To  dwell  so  exclusively  on  the  favorable  features  of  this 
country  and  race  may  seem  to  imply  an  e.xaggerated  appre- 
ciation of  the  past  and  present,  and  an  optimistic  view  of  the 
future.  Evils  and  defects  are  assuredly  very  prominent  in  the 
minds  of  all  who  shall  read  what  is  here  written  and  are  not 
denied  by  the  writer.  Yet  the  great  features  of  the  past 
that  have  begotten  a  present  so  brilliant  were  accompanied 
by  the  same,  or  similar,  often  apparently  greater,  defects; 
but  they  were  outgrown  or  disappeared  in  the  natural 
course  of  events.  They  were  not  properly  defects  but 
limitations;  not  organic  vice  or  folly,  but  rather  excess  of  vi- 
tality— when  they  were  not  merely  some  misunderstood 
phases  of  growth. 

The  great  facts  of  the  past  have  been  those  of  progress, 
never  of  decay;  the  great  facts  of  the  present  are  those  of 
strength,  not  of  weakness;  and,  when  the  future  is  outlined  in 


THE    SHIP   IS    OUT   ON    THE   OPEN    SEA.  671 

the  light  of  the  past  and  present,  there  is  all  good  reason  to 
hope  and  none  for  any  serious  fear. 

It  is  seldom  that  a  nation,  community,  or  individual  can 
judge  accurately  as  to  what  is  reall}'  taking  place.  The  view 
is  too  narrow;  temporary  circumstances  in  the  present  seem 
more  important  than  they  are — tiieir  nearness  filling  the  ho- 
rizon too  much,  and  throwing  everything  out  of  proportion. 
This  can  only  be  corrected  by  taking  measures  to  enlarge  the 
view,  and  interpreting  the  present  in  the  light  of  a  carefully 
studied  past.  This  attempt  has  here  been  made.  The  re- 
sources of  the  country,  the  character  of  the  people  and  the 
line  of  progress  have  been  noted  to  correct  the  natural  mis- 
conceptions of  the  present  and  to  furnish  an  augury  of  the 
future.  The  mariner  would  say  that  tiie  view  from  the  mast- 
head showed  how  instinctive  good  seamanship  had  avoided 
rocks  and  shoals  behind,  and  that  a  broad  open  sea  spread 
before  as  far  as  eye  could  reach. 


PART  FIFTH. 


CANADA  AND  ENGLAND. 


In  the  previous  portion  of  this  work  a  survey  has  been 
taken  of  a  Land,  a  People,  and  a  Career  which  are  fast  rising 
to  the  foremost  place  in  Modern  History.  At  least,  so  it  is 
believed  by  the  citizens  of  the  Republic;  and  the  views  that 
have  been  given  of  the  geology  and  natural  resources,  the 
history  and  development  of  the  United  States  of  America  do 
not  tend  to  discourage  this  faith  in  the  Manifest  Destiny  of 
Anglo-Americans  to  eventual  leadership  among  the  nations. 
Greatness  appears  written  on  almost  every  feature  of  the 
American  future.  Nature  has  stored  the  Land  with  resources 
as  amply  as  History  has  endowed  the  People  richly  with 
qualities.  The  location  in  space  between  the  two  parts  of  the 
Old  "World  reached  by  the  Atlantic  on  the  east  and  the  Pacific 
on  the  west  is  as  eminently  favorable  as  the  development  in 
time;  for  the  rising  Spirit  of  the  Age  has  breathed  upon 
most  nations,  and  they  are  awaking  to  respond  to  the  enter- 
prise of  a  vigorous  race. 

But  America  has  many  reasons  for  "  remembering  the  rock 
whence  she  was  hewed."  If  the  Great  Republic  is  an 
effect  England  is  the  cause.  If  her  people  were  so  worthy 
that,  in  taking  a  broad  view  of  them,  their  defects  appear 
insignificant  compared  with  their  virtues,  it  was  because  they 
had  received  a  noble  inheritance  of  high  qualities  from  the 
Anglo-Saxon  mother.  If  they  found  extraordinary  agents  to 
promote  an  extraordinary  growth  the  agent — or  the  hint  that 
led  to  it — was  received  from  Great  Britain,  or  encouragement 

672 


ENGLAND    IS    NOT   YET    LAGGING    BEHIND.  673 

•there  responded  to  every  invention  and  ever}-  step  of  progress 
liere.  If  the  world  broke  out  into  rapid  development  and 
activities  everywhere  supplied  stimulus  and  reward  to  Amer- 
ican energ}',  it  was  becauee  England  had  been  tlie  great  Pio-> 
neer,  sailed  her  ships  on  every  sea,  and  established  centers  of 
thrifty  modern  industry-  in  the  most  distant  regions  of  the 
earth. 

If  America  has  covered  herself  with  glory  b}'  her 
achievements,  what  shall  we  say  of  Great  Britain,  her  im- 
mense commerce  and  wealth,  her  vast  foreign  possessions  and 
the  intelligent  energy  required  for  success  in  so  many  ways, 
in  such  a  vast  field,  and  with  so  crowded  a  base  as  her  small 
home  islands?  America  has  yet  far  to  go  in  many  ways  be- 
fore she  can  outrank  England,  in  a  general  average  of  compar- 
ison, and  what  may  not  England  do  in  the  meantime,  with 
her  powerful  momentum  of  progress?  If  it  is  a  race  for  the 
leadership  of  mankind,  America  is  far  from  having  caught 
u]).  She  has  boundless  and  various  resources  within  her  own 
territories,  and  is  only  beginning  her  harvest  of  them  ;  but 
England  contrives  to  make  the  world  her  field,  her  prospect- 
ors unearth  hidden  treasures  everywhere,  and  her  armies  and 
shi]is  of  war  but  protect  her  merchants  and  industries  in  se- 
curing the  vast  gains.  '•  Brother  Jonathan  "  may  not  yet  rest 
content  with  his  laurels,  green  and  precious  as  they  are.  He 
will  do  well  to  meditate  an  advance  to  still  greater  triumphs 
in  the  near  future  if  he  means  to  continue  gaining  on  *'  John 
Bull." 

Great  Britain  has  been  somewhat  remarkable  in  the  last 
•century  for  turning  the  successes  of  others — and  even  some- 
times her  own  defeats — to  her  advantage.  She  has  made  a 
vast  amount  of  money  out  of  the  loss  of  her  Thirteen  Ameri- 
can Colonies  by  their  greater  and  more  massive  development. 
Even  her  capital  invested  in  independent  America  has  gained 
her,  a  hundred  times  over,  what  was  lost  by  the  Revolutionary 
War.  The  Suez  Canal,  built  by  the  French,  falls  into  her  hands 
43 


674  CANADA    AND    ENGLAND. 

along  with  virtual  lordship  over  Egypt,  and  England  gains 
much  while  Russia,  the  victor  in  battle,  gains  little  by  a 
Russo-Turkish  war. 

It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Canada  will  ever  be  disposed 
to  merge  her  identity  in  that  of  the  Republic,  and  it  is  not 
the  assemblage  of  barren  rocks,  snow  fields  and  frozen  lakes 
the  world  has  seemed  inclined  to  believe.  It  may  be  safely 
said,  probably,  tliat  the  Dominion  has  one-half  the  number  of 
acre*  of  fertile  soil  possessed  by  the  United  States,  and  these 
are  equal  in  economic  value  to  the  best  lands  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Basin.  They  were  made  such  by  the  same  causes,  and 
if  tlie  winters  are  severe  tiiey  are  not  really  more  hurtful 
than  in  the  best  developed  and  ricliest  sections  of  the  North- 
ern States  of  the  Union.  On  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  the 
Dominion  has  some  eminent  advantages  of  commercial  po- 
sition and  resources  not  fully  paralleled  in  the  Republic. 

Meanwhile,  a  branch  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  witli  a  spe- 
cially educated  graft  from  the  fine  Gallic  stock,  has  liad  ;, 
special  training  there,  is  beginning  to  show  tlie  mettle  of  it^ 
ancestry,  and  an  ambition  and  courage  of  adventure  such  as 
Anglo-Americans  admire  when  exhibited  among  themselves 
Canada  and  its  people  are  rising  to  prominence  and  should 
be  understood  by  Americans.  A  few  chapters  are,  therefore, 
given  to  Canada  and  England  by  way  of  contrast  and  compar- 
ison with  the  United  States. 


■^ 


THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA. 


I 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PEOPLE  AND  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

A  settlement  was  eflected  by  the  French  in  Canada  a  few- 
years  earlier  than  by  the  English  in  Virginia;  but  a  full  gen- 
eration passed  before  it  had  struck  so  firm  a  root  as  to  give 
some  assurance  of  permanence.  To  secure  this  result  all  the 
talents,  energy  and  influence  of  the  excellent  Champlain  had 
to  be  employed  for  thirty  years;  and  even  then  a  large  part  of 
its  supplies  depended  on  the  mother  country.  The  soil  was 
rich,  but  was  long  quite  uncultivated.  The  policy  followed 
by  its  promoters  and  rulers  gave  little  encouragement  to  such 
of  the  settlers  as  were  not  nol)le  or  not  associated  with  the 
trading  monopolies.  In  the  sixteenth  and  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth centuries  France  was  passing  through  a  religious  con- 
flict between  the  Iloman  Catholics  and  the  Huguenots.  The 
latter  were  conquered  and  multitudes  of  them  fled  from  the 
country,  but  were  not  permitted  to  settle  in  Canada.  Later, 
the  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.  kept  France  in  a  state  of  war 
with  a  considerable  part  of  Europe,  for  a  long  time,  so  that 
its  colonies  received  comparatively  little  attention. 

Yet  care  was  taken  to  plant  French  institutions  and  to  pre- 
serve government  control  over  business  and  development  in 
every  direction.  The  English  colonies  further  south  were 
inaugurated  under  charters  that  were  liberality  itself  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  French.  The  English  were  led  by  par- 
ties who  were  themselves  settlers,  and  the  mass  of  the  settlers 
were  allowed  a  voice  in  shaping  many  of  the  affairs  that  most 

675 


676  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

deeply  concerned  tlietn.  Add  to  this  that  the  English  Gov- 
ernment treated  them  in  many  important  respects  with  a 
wholesome  forgett'ulness  and  neglect  that  permitted  a  iiatnral 
growth  in  accordance  with  their  character  and  surroundings, 
and  a  aiitficieiit  number  of  reasons  are  found  for  the  immedi- 
ate establishment  of  strong  English  colonies  and  the  long 
feebleness  of  Canada. 

In  1663,  sixty  years  after  the  first  landing  of  DeMont's 
colony  in  Nova  Scotia,  Canada  had  but  3,000  settlers.  New 
England  alone,  at  this  time,  had  probably  as  many  as  60,000 
who  had  established  a  firm  foundation  for  future  prosperity. 
At  this  time  Louis  XIV.  took  Canada  under  his  special  royal 
protection  and  endeavored  to  build  it  up  on  a  stronger  base. 
He  encouraged  immigration  and  introduced  the  Feudal  Sys- 
tem in  order  to  promote  agriculture  under  military  protec- 
tion. The  fur  trade  had  been  the  principal  interest  hitherto. 
This  liad  not  encouraged  immigration,  to  any  important 
extent,  and  the  few  colonists  had  maintained  their  prestige 
by  cultivating  the  good  will  of  the  tribes  in  their  own  bound- 
aries and  fighting  the  Iroquois  of  New  York  with  great 
vigor  when  they  became  aggressive — which  was  often  the 
case.  They  required  to  be  constantly  ready  to  defend  them- 
selves. 

After  trading  interests — perhaps  it  should  be  said  above 
them — was  the  religious  character  of  the  colony.  For  nearly 
three  quarters  of  a  century — perhaps  even  longer — the  col- 
ony was  a  mission  much  more  than  anything  else.  The 
influence  of  the  priests  over  the  Indians  contributed  much 
more  to  the  protection  of  the  feeble  settlements  than  the 
small  military  force  sent  from  France.  The  Jesuits  entered 
the  field  with  ardor  and  the  self-devotion  of  martyrs.  Many 
<jf  them,  during  the  first  fifty  years,  actually  became  martyrs 
— unflinchingly  gave  themselves  to  torture,  or  death  in  the 
midst  of  their  converts.  Such  an  example  of  enterprising 
fortitude  was  not  without  its  effect  in  quickening  the  daring 


THE    EARLY    TRAINING    OF    FRENCH    CANADIANS.  677 

boldness  of  those  who  were  not  at  all  religious,  and  it  deep- 
ened the  religious  tone  of  the  settlers  generally  very  much. 
No  people  in  the  world  have  given  evidence  of  more  attach- 
ment to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  than  the  French  of 
Canada;  and  it  may  also  be  said  that  nowhere  have  the  religi- 
ous teachers  of  that  church — the  higher  as  well  as  the  com- 
mon priesthood — proved  themselves  more  earnest  in  devotion 
to  their  spiritual  work  than  in  Canada. 

Thus  the  training  of  the  French  pioneers  was  absolutely 
diii'erent  from  that  of  the  English  in  the  south.  The  few 
thousands  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  colony  sixty  years 
after  its  origin — when  they  received  a  considerable  addition 
to  their  numbers — were  trained  to  hardship,  danger  and 
endurance.  A  pai't  ai'  them  spent  half  of  each  year  in  roam- 
inir  the  woods  after  furs  and  game  and  conducting  trade  with 
the  Indians.  This  free,  wild  life  neutralized  some  of  the  ill 
effects  of  the  unwise  system  of  government  established  over 
them  and  made  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the  Xorthwest, 
as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains,  familiar  ground  to  them. 

Not  more  than  10,000  natives  of  France  ever  immigrated 
for  pernaanent  settlement  in  Canada — and  some  maintain  that 
there  were  nn  more  than  half  that  number,  or  5,000.  In  a 
hundred  years — in  176(>,  or  at  the  English  Con(juest — they 
numbered  60,000.  Their  descendants  during  this  period  set- 
tled in  moderate  numbers  in  Michigan,  at  Detroit  and  Mack- 
inaw, a  few  at  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  in  Illinois,  Indiana  and 
the  Lower  Mississippi.  The  mass  of  them  remained  in  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  quietly  gave  tiiemselves  to 
agriculture  and  the  few  lines  of  occupation  which  the  small 
towns  afforded. 

The  most  of  those  who  remained  after  the  English  occupa- 
tion were  country  people,  subject  to  their  feudal  lords.  Until 
almost  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  they  were  ever 
on  the  watch  for  Indian  attacks,  and  the  frequent  wars  with 
the  English  colonists  called  them  into   the  field   for  many 


678  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA. 

years  afterward.  Hardy  and  bold  as  soldiers,  this  handful  of 
Frenchmen  kept  the  growing  multitudes  of  the  Anglo-Amer- 
icans, who  soon  began  to  increase  to  millions,  in  almost  con- 
stant uneasiness  and  alarm.  They  were  kind  and  politic 
in  their  management  of  the  Indians  and  gave  the  French 
name  as  much  currency  and  prestige  in  America  as  Louis 
XIV.  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte  gave  it,  during  the  lifetime 
of  each,  in  Europe.  These  few,  poor,  unambitious  settlers  did 
not  discredit  their  ancestry  when  called  upon  to  act,  and 
nearly  three  millions  of  valiant  Anglo-Americans  breathed 
freer  and  felt  their  interests  more  safe  when  the  rule  of  sixty 
thousand  French  colonists  in  Canada  terminated. 

The  French  peasantry — -or  "liabitans,"  as  they  were  called 
— who  formed  the  principal  base  of  French  power  in  Canada, 
when  not  engaged  in  military  operations  were  as  quiet,  careless 
and  unambitious  as  could  well  be  conceived.  The  govern- 
ment Land,  or  Feudal  System,  did  not  offer  much  encourage- 
ment to  farming  enterprise,  markets  were  extremely  limited, 
and  there  were  few  opportunities  for  gaining  wealth  open  to 
any  who  did  not  possess  influence  with  the  Government — 
and  few  but  the  noble  had  that.  In  fact,  most  of  the  French 
who  amassed  wealth  in  the  Canadas  were  natives  of  France, 
in  favor  at  Court,  or  who  could  secure  interest  there.  Ordi- 
nary native  Canadians  could  exert  no  influence  on  the  govern- 
ment or  public  affairs  about  them,  and  they  rarely  were  able 
to  secure  more  than  a  modest  competence.  All  the  stimulus 
that  was  so  powerfully  felt  by  even  the  lowest  classes  in  the 
English  colonies  was  wanting.  Unless  an  Indian  or  colonial 
war  called  them  away  from  the  uneventful  and  unexciting 
round  of  daily  duties  they  had  small  occasion  for  fore-thought 
or  an.\ious  meditation  about  cun-ent  affairs.  Extremely  so- 
cial and  devout,  they  labored  during  the  short  summers  with 
diligence  to  secure  their  small  harvests  and  spent  the  long 
winters  in  social  enjoyments  and  careful  attendance  on  the 
services  of  the  church. 


THE    "HABITANS"    AND   THE    ENGLISH    CONQUEST.  679 

In  September,  1759,  Quebec  was  captured  by  the  English 
army  under  Gen.  Wolf,  and  in  the  same  month  one  year  later 
<jren.  Amherst  took  possession  of  Montreal,  the  capitulation 
on  the  last  occasion  including  all  the  French  forces  in  Canada. 
In  1763  a  definite  treaty  between  France  and  England  secured 
all  the  French  claims  to  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  to 
England. 

With  this  event  commenced  a  new  career  for  Canada.  It 
was  a  great  affliction  for  the  French  population,  for  they  had 
not  resented  theii  exclusion  from  the  public  aflfairs  of  their 
colony,  nor  the  illiberality  that  left  them  so  few  oppor- 
tunities for  gaining  wealth.  They  had  cheerfully  answered 
:i]l  calls  for  military  service,  although  they  received  little  pay, 
and  sometimes  none,  while  their  fields  must  be  cultivated  by  the 
women  or  lie  fallow  in  their  absence.  They  had  the  warmest 
jittachment  to  France,  and  did  not  share  in  that  growing  dis- 
content of  the  French  peasantry  at  home  with  the  court  and 
nobility  that  were,  in  a  few  years,  to  bring  the  fearful  Revo- 
lution and  the  "  Reign  of  Terror."  To  them  the  king  was 
all  that  was  paternal  and  kind,  and  the  court  and  nobility 
were  surrounded  in  tiieir  thought  with  a  halo  of  honor  and 
glory.  Although  shut  out  from  the  opportunities  of  im- 
proving tlieir  fortunes  that  were  so  fully  enjoyed  by  all 
classes  of  the  Anglo-American  Colonies,  they  were  freed,  in 
this  boundless  New  World  of  unoccupied  land,  from  the 
want  and  misery  that  afflicted  their  class  in  France.  They 
had  few  disturbing  ambitions  and  many  simple  pleasures. 
They  were  content  with  the  king  and  the  priests,  who  took  some 
care  that  they  were  not  wantonly  oppressed  by  their  feudal 
lords  and  the  offlcials  of  the  colonial  government. 

When  the  conquest  of  the  French  armies  at  Quebec  and 
Montreal  took  place,  the  "habitans,"  who  formed  the  prin- 
<?ipal  part  of  them,  were  dismissed  to  homes  from  which  long 
absence  had  banished  the  accustomed  comforts,  and  with  the 
total  loss  of  pay  for  vast  quantities  of  provisions  which  they 


680  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

liad  supplied  to  the  armies  during  tlie  years  of  war.  They 
fell  under  the  sway  of  a  people  whose  ways  and  language 
were  strange  to  them.  Tlieir  regrets  were  very  bitter.  They 
never  lost  tiieir  fond  affection  for  France,  their  attachment  to 
their  church  and  priests  or  to  their  language  from  their  lo3'al 
hearts  and  memories.  But  resistance  would  have  been  hope- 
less had  it  occurred  to  them;  their  priests  were  wise  and  use- 
ful in  mediating  between  them  and  the  conrpierors,  and,  after 
a  few  years  under  the  rule  of  the  English,  a  new  pros])erity 
gradually  opened  to  them. 

As  discontent,  rebellion,  war,  and  finally  inde]>endence 
came  to  the  Thirteen  English  Colonies  south  of  them,  the 
English  Home  Government  treated  its  French  subjects  with 
more  and  more  careful  consideration.  They  were  protected 
from  the  eager  self-seeking  of  the  English  settlers  who  immi- 
grated to  better  their  fortunes  ;  their  religion,  their  language, 
and  their  civil  laws  were  respected;  after  a  time  they  were- 
invited  to  take  part  in  the  councils  of  the  colonial  government, 
by  elected  representatives  or  a  Colonial  Assembly,  and  grad- 
ually learned  to  claim  and  to  maintain  the  rights  of  English- 
men winch  tiie  Conquest  had  acquired  to  them.  From  1792' 
to  1816  Lower  Canada  was  substantially  governed  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  French  inhabitants,  somewhat  to  the  discontent 
of  the  English  settlers  who  came  in  after  the  Conquest. 

By  that  time  they  had  learned  to  understand  legislative 
forms  and  riglits,  and  were  not  as  content  to  pass  laws  which 
might  be  negatived  by  the  Governor,  or  disallowed  l)y  tlie 
English  Colonial  Office  as  the  English  colonists  themselves. 
They  entered  on  a  long  and  bitter  parliamentary  contest  for 
the  right  to  control  the  expenditure  of  the  moneys  they  voted, 
and  finally  exhibited  the  thoroughness  of  the  French  character, 
which  had  seemed  to  lay  dormant  in  the  habitans  under 
French  rule,  by  passing  from  opposition  to  rebellion.  Sufli 
a  climax  was  reached  in  1837.  This,  however,  was  so  little 
the  wish  of  the  mass  of  the  jieople  as  to  yield  very  soon  tO' 


HOME    UUI.E    IS    GRANTED    TO    CANADA.  68L 

English  vigor,  followed  by  English  good  sense  and  wise  con- 
cession. The  point  they  contended  for  was  admitted,  and 
Parliamentary  Government  was  allowed  them. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  English  had  gained 
possession  of  the  islands  in  tlie  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  of 
the  peninsula  the  French  had  settled  and  called  Acadia  and 
the  Englisli  Nova  Scotia.  Most  of  the  French  inhabitants 
had  been  forcibly  removed  or  expelled  from  Acadia,  because 
of  their  attachment  to  their  Mother  Country  and  French 
institutions  and  the  supposed  danger  they  formed  for  the  new 
rule,  and  many  thousands  of  emigrants  from  the  British  isles 
had  taken  their  places  or  built  up  new  settlements.  At  the 
close  of  the  American  "War  some  thousands  of  royalists  of  the 
Thirteen  Colonies,  now  free,  who  had  taken  the  side  of  the 
motlier  country  in  the  contest,  were  given  lands  in  New 
Brunswick  and  Upper  Canada,  and  two  new  and  thoroughly 
English  colonies  had  thus  been  formed.  Upper  Canada  was 
found  to  have  a  tine  soil  and  climate,  and  attracted  a  consider- 
able emigration  from  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland.  In  1792 
they  obtained  a  separate  government  in  order  toavc^id  causes 
of  dispute  and  ill  feeling  between  the  two  nationalities. 

In  1840,  althoiigh  tlie  English  Government  granted  the 
points  in  disjnite  to  tlie  French  Legislative  Assembly,  it  pun- 
ished them  and  provided  against  possible  future  rebellion  by 
Joining  Upper,  or  English-speaking  Canada  with  the  Lower, 
or  French  Province,  in  a  legislative  union.  This  was  not 
wholly  satisfactory  to  either  Province.  The  French  were  the 
more  numerous,  yet  the  two  Provinces  had  an  equal  repre- 
sentation, and  the  French  Province  was  required  to  share  the 
pecuniary  burdens  of  the  less  populous  and  poorer  Upper 
Province.  This,  however,  was  but  a  subordinate  and,  as  it 
proved,  a  temporary  trouble.  The  important  point  was  that 
complete  control  of  their  home  affairs  was  given  them.  They 
were  free  to  devise,  arrange,  control,  and  grow  at  their  best 
without  interference. 


^82  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

A  period  of  rapid  progress  was  now  inaugurated.  Lower 
Canada  had  been  settled  more  than  two  hundred  and  thirty 
years,  while  Upper  Canada  had  been  almost  a  wilderness  fifty 
years  previously.  The  Lower  Province  had  about  700,000  in- 
habitants, and  the  Upper  little  more  than  half  as  many.  Set- 
tlements on  the  lower  St.  Lawrence  were  comparatively  com- 
pact, all  within  a  moderate  distance  of  the  great  river,  which 
had  no  serious  obstructions  to  Montreal  on  the  western  bound- 
ary. Although  Upper  Canada  had  the  most  favorable  soil 
and  climate,  and  its  settlements  were  spread  along  the  exten- 
sive water  line  of  the  upper  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lower 
Great  Lakes,  its  navigable  outlet  was  wholly  interrupted  be- 
tween Lukes  Erie  and  Ontario  by  the  cataract  of  Niagara, 
and  was  made  difficult  and  dangerous  by  the  rapids  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  above  Montreal.  Its  products  reached  suitable 
markets,  therefore,  with  difficulty  and  considerable   expense. 

The  conditions  of  the  Union  of  the  two  Provinces  were 
designedly  made  most  favorable  to  the  upper  one.  The  aim 
was  to  Anglicize  the  French  inhabitants  by  giving  as  much 
preponderance  as  possible  to  the  English  portion  of  the  peo- 
ple; for  the  recent  attempt  at  rebellion  had  inspired  distrust 
of  the  French  element.  The  latter  remonstrated  without 
effect,  but  having,  in  the  more  important  points,  received  what 
they  sought,  they  quietly  submitted  and  devoted  themselves 
to  a  careful  development  of  their  opportunities.  The  Eng- 
lish-speaking people  were  the  descendants  of  the  American 
Loyalists  and  immigrants  from  England,  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. There  were  large  numbers  of  the  thrifty  Scotch  and 
their  coreligionists  and  i*elatives  by  blood  from  the  North 
of  Ireland,  who  were  a  most  valuable  clas^  of  people  in  a 
new  country.  The  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Celt  had  quarreled 
and  fought  with  great  bitterness  from  the  opening  of  modern 
history  in  Europe,  even  when  separated  by  branches  of  the 
sea.  Here  they  were  brought  together  to  share  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  same  government  at  the  polls,  in  the  legislative 
-chamber,  in  the  executive  council. 


COLONIAL    I'ARLIAMKNTAKY    GOVERNMENT.  683 

Freedom  of  action  and  conimxinity  of  individual  interest 
enabled  them  to  lay  aside,  for  the  most  part,  the  differences 
which  race,  religion  and  mutual  prejudice  had  so  long  fos- 
tered. They  joined  hands  heartily  to  inaugurate  the  new 
independence  granted  to  them.  Their  privileges  and  liber- 
ties were,  in  effect,  even  greater  than  those  of  British  subjects 
in  England  itself.  Although  their  Governor  was  appointed 
by  the  Executive  of  the  Home  Country  he  had  no  arbi- 
trary power.  The  people  elected  their  Representatives  with 
entire  freedom,  and  the  members  of  the  Executive  Councils 
could  carry  on  the  Government  no  longer  than  they  were  in 
harmony  with  these  Legislators.  The  Colonial  Parliament 
made  the  laws,  laid  tiie  taxes,  supervised  all  expenditures, 
and  held  complete  control  over  public  affairs. 

Their  Fundamental  Law,  or  Constitution,  was  not  indeed 
formally  of  their  own  making,  being  an  enactment  of  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain;  they  formed  a  portion  of  the 
British  Empire;  the  Governor  General  was  the  Representa- 
tive of  the  English  Sovereign ;  and  they  did  not  assume  the 
formal  attributes  of  an  independent  nation.  Virtually,  how- 
ever, the  Constitution  was  such  as  they  generally  desired; 
the  Queen,  by  her  Home  Parliament  and  Colonial  Viceroy, 
was  merely  a  moderator  in  their  deliberations,  did  not  at- 
tempt to  embarrass  or  often  interfere  with  the  course  of  jnib- 
lic  affairs,  and  her  Parliament  acted  as  umpire  and  a  final  court 
of  appeal  only  when  invited  to  do  so,  or  in  specified  cases 
involving  the  interests  of  the  whole  British  Empire,  those  of 
Canada  included.  The  advantages  of  remaining  nominally 
the  subjects  of  a  distant  Sovereign,  suboi-dinate  parts  of  a 
great  whole,  with  actual  self-control,  were  considered  greater 
than  the  disadvantages;  for  the  sovereign  powers  were  chiefly 
ceremonial  and  moderative,  and  administered  with  the  dignity, 
consideration  and  good  sense  peculiarl}'  the  attribute  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  when  precedent  and  the  authority  of  law 
Jiave  rendered  the  subject  virtually  free. 


684  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Tlie  forms  of  the  Canadian  Government  and  the  exercise- 
of  authority  by  appointed  officers  were  borrowed  from  tlie 
latest  and  most  enlightened  usages  of  the  English  people  and 
had,  therefore,  much  of  the  ease,  maturity  and  fore-thought 
of  an  old  government.  If  their  detractors  thought  they  fitted 
loosely  and  awkwardly  on  the  stalwart  and  rustic  limbs  of  a 
young  backwoods  nation  they  could  not  deny  that  tliey  worked. 
without  the  friction  which  modei'n  institutions  newly  estab- 
lished in  the  midst  of  an  old  society  experienced,  and  noth- 
ing prevented  such  modifications  as  the  future  might  prove- 
desirable. 

This  Union  of  the  two  Canadian  Provinces,  on  the  upper 
and  lower  St.  Lawrence,  lasted  for  twenty-seven  years.  Enter- 
ing it  with  about  1,000,000  inhabitants,  the  expiration  of  thi& 
time  found  them  with  considerably  over  2,000,000,  who  had 
succeeded  admirably,  on  the  whole,  in  managing  their  own  af- 
fairs. The  French  and  English  statesmen  worked  so  well  and 
harmoniously  together  that  one  might  almost  have  su]>posed 
them  to  be  of  one  race.  Tlie  French  proved  themselves  as  cap- 
able of  management,  of  guiding  public  aifairs  within  consti- 
tutional limits,  as  their  English  associates,  and  progress  went 
forward  among  the  French  population  in  the  same  degree, 
considering  that  their  Province  was  so  old  and  the  habits  of 
the  communities  so  thoroughly  stereotyped  in  the  cast  of 
ancient  molds.  The  habitans  had  l)een  accustomed  to  look, 
to  their  priesthood  for  initiatory  steps,  and  by  race  and  im- 
memorial habit  had  been  believed  wanting  in  the  individual 
boldness  and  promptness  that  distinguished  the  Anglo-Amer- 
icans in  the  highest  degree,  and  strongly  marked  the  British 
settlers  of  the  Upper  Province.  Upper  Canada  naturally 
took  and  kept  the  lead  in  inaugiarating  the  improved  organ- 
izations of  the  most  modern  society;  but  if  Lower  Canada  fol- 
lowed in  the  rear  it  was  not  far  behind  after  making  due 
allowance  for  the  difference  of  circumstances  and  history. 

But  Upper  Canada  was  very  enlightened  and  enterprising 


m^- 


ADVANTAGES    OF    PARLIAMENTARY   GOVERNMENT.  685 

ill  .some  ways  that  were  most  important.  She  received, 
ainmig  tlie  immigrants  from  England,  some  of  its  most 
enlightened  and  progressive  citizens.  She  was  almost  snr- 
rounded  by  several  of  the  intelligent  and  aspiring  common- 
wealths of  the  Anglo-American  Tie]nil)lic  and  her  own  high- 
minded  leaders  determined  that  their  institutions  should  be 
after  the  best  models  and  shaped  after  full  study  of  the  most 
mature  experiences  of  the  leading  States  of  Europe  and 
America.  The  monarchical  structure  and  parliamentary  form 
of  ifovernment  in  Canada  have  one  sinsi'ular  advantage,  at  least 
— they  provide  that  the  initiative  in  legislation  shall  be  taken 
by  the  highest  officers  of  tlie  Executive  to  whom  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs  for  the  time  l)eing  is  committed,  viz. :  the 
Cabinet.  This  small  body  of  eminent  statesmen  necessarily 
has  a  broader  and  closer  view  of  the  needs  of  the  country 
than  any  other  class  of  men,  however  eidightened,  since  they 
have  to  deal  with  all  the  details  of  affairs  in  every  part  of  the 
country  at  once. 

To  this  body  is  committed  the  care  of  planning,  introduc- 
ing, and  pushing  through,  by  their  leadership  and  exceptional 
influence,  the  whole  system  of  legislation  they  deem  import- 
ant for  the  time.  The  Pi-esident  of  the  United  States  and 
his  Secretaries  form  a  cabinet,  liut  it  is,  above  all,  executive. 
They  may  suggest  legislation,  and  even  urge  it.  but  are  not 
expected  to  originate  the  general  scheme  for  it,  nor  are  they 
allowed  to  ijuide  it  througfli  the  legislative  chambers  with  the 
force  and  influence  that  union  and  responsibility  to  the  legis- 
lators and  the  people  confer.  There  is  no  organized  body 
under  the  Constitution  recjuired  to  devise,  mature,  and  carry 
to  success  a  system  of  measures  that  may  be  needed.  Legis- 
lation, therefore,  is  more  irregular,  desultory  and  incomplete, 
because  spontaneous  or  arranged  by  comparatively  irrespons- 
ible party  leaders  or  individuals,  who  may,  possibly,  waste 
the  time  of  Congress  on  immature  or  perhaps  extravagant 
projects. 


686  THE   DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

With  this  well-organized  leadership  more  vigor,  definite- 
ness  and  completeness  is  likely  to  characterize  legislation. 
The  Canadas  labored  nnder  many  more  disadvantages  than 
the  Republic  when,  in  1840,  they  received  such  an  organiza- 
tion— Parliamentary  Government  it  is  called — and  their  great 
progress  subsequently,  notwithstanding  serious  embarrass- 
ments, is  partly  explained  by  the  vigorand  unity  of  the  system. 
Leadership  is  more  carefully  provided  for,  more  direct  and 
effective  under  this  monarchical  but  free  structure  of  Govern- 
ment than  in  one  purely  and  simply  popular  and  having  a 
more  complete  separation  of  Executive  and  Legislature,  as  in 
the  United  States.  There  is,  perhaps,  a  superabundance  of 
leadership  in  the  more  entirely  popular  system,  and  it  tends 
to  develop  talent  in  that  line;  but  more  ability  and  skill  are 
often  less  effective  for  want  of  accepted  and  constitutional 
organization.  They  are  partly  wasted  and  diminished  in  use- 
fulness to  broad  and  high  public  interests  because  required  to 
spend  so  much  strength  in  contest  with  rival  aspirants. 

The  Canadas  soon  united  in  a  great  system  of  public  works. 
Some  seventeen  hundred  miles  of  navigation  extending  from 
the  Gulf  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  extremity  of  Lake  Su- 
perior had  been  but  partially  available  from  obstructions  in 
the  river  and  between  the  Lakes.  Ship-canals  were  con- 
structed and  this  embarrassment  overcome.  Roads  were  made 
in  all  directions;  public  aid  came  to  the  help  of  towns  and 
municipalities  in  laying  foundations  in  the  wilderness,  and 
flourishing  cities  grew  up  rapidly.  Resources,  in  a  country 
so  vast,  so  new,  and  that  must  long  be  thinly  settled  because 
the  mass  of  emigrants  from  Europe  to  the  New  World  flowed 
mainly  to  the  better  known  and  more  famous  republic,  were 
very  limited;  but  when  the  new  Government  had  become  well 
organized,  and  the  country  completely  pacified,  the  credit  of 
Canada  became  good  in  England.  Large  loans  were  effected 
for  purposes  of  development.  An  intelligent  study  of  the 
best  institutions  of  the  most  prosperous  nations  was  made  by^ 


Cv 


GREAT    PROGRESS    IN    BOTH    THE   CANADAS.  687 

public  agents  of  the  two  Provinces,  and  the  organization  of 
nninicipalities,  of  public  schools,  of  charitable  and  reform- 
atory institutions  was  made  thoroughly  admirable.  Immi- 
gration was  aided,  the  public  lands  were  thrown  open,  com- 
panies for  promoting  settlement  were  encouraged,  and  devel- 
opment in  every  line  was  stimulated. 

Soon  after  1850,  the  Feudal  Tenures  of  French  Canada, 
that  had  been  preserved  for  nearly  two  hundred  3'ears,  were 
extinguished.  The  educational  system  of  that  Province  was 
greatly  extended  and  improved,  the  commerce  and  trade  of 
the  two  Canadas  was  largely  developed,  and  a  measured,  well- 
regulated,  healthy,  yet  rapid  and  powerful  progress  became 
a})parent  in  every  department  of  growth.  The  changes  in 
the  Lower  and  older  Province  were  steady  and  great,  yet  slow 
compared  with  Upper  Canada,  which,  during  this  period,  or 
from  1840  to  1860,  kept  pace  in  most  respects  with  the  neigh- 
boring States  of  the  American  Union.  Railways  and  tele- 
graphs made  their  appearance,  and  continued  to  assist  growth- 
very  much  after  1850. 

Nova  Seotia,  New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edwards  Island  and 
Newtoundland  were  called  the  "  Maritime  Provinces,"  and 
were  independent  of  each  other  and  of  the  United  Canadas. 
The  only  common  bond  was  that  maintained  through  com- 
mon relations  to  the  Mother  Country.  Each  of  these  had 
received  the  same  practical  self-government  as  the  Canadas 
about  the  same  time,  and  had  a  ministry  responsible  to  its 
local  Parliament,  which,  in  all  essential  respects,  governed 
the  people  according  to  their  will. 

About  1860  growth  had  proceeded  so  far  as  to  de- 
mand new  facilities  and  some  re-adjustments.  Intercourse 
by  water  by  the  improved  channels  with  the  outside- 
world  could  be  maintained  only  in  the  warmer  months 
of  the  year  and  had  become  too  slow,  the  distances  being 
so  great.  To  maintain  its  rate  of  growth  railroads  must 
pervade    the    country    as     they     were    coming    to    do    ia 


'()88  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

the  neighboring  Repuliiic.  The  Maritime  Provinces  needed 
the  markets  of  the  Canadas  for  their  commerce,  as  did  the 
latter  the  outlet  for  their  jtroductioiis,  which  some  kind  of 
close  union  with  each  other  alone  could  give.  Their  united 
resources  and  credit  would  be  none  too  much  for  the  con- 
struction of  railways  and  other  facilities  of  a  massive  and 
thorough  expansion.  In  addition  to  this,  legislative  embar- 
rassments arose  out  of  the  union  of  the  two  Provinces,  so 
flissimilar  in  character  and  interests,  and  now  so  changed  rel- 
atively from  their  condition  at  the  period  of  the  Union.  That 
union  had  been  unnatural — the  eftbrt  of  the  Home  Govern- 
ment to  Anglicize  the  French  Province  through  association 
with  the  English  Province.  It  had  its  good  results  but 
seemed  to  have  been  really  unnecessary,  as  virtual  independ- 
ence completely  reconciled  it  to  English  relations  without 
necessary  loss  of  its  inherited  language  and  habits  of  thought. 
Progress  readily  took  on  a  Frencli  type  without  loss  of  mem- 
ories and  customs  dear  to  the  people. 

From  1857  to  186.5  the  government  of  the  United  Provinces 
was  almost  continually  threatened  with  a  dead-lock  in  the 
Canadian  Parliament,  so  equally  balanced  were  representatives 
of  the  two  sections,  and  so  difficult  was  it  to  agree  on  a  com- 
mon sciieme  of  public  policy  for  the  whole.  It  was  evidently 
necessary  either  to  reconstruct  the  Union  to  conform  to  the 
different  circumstances,  or  to  arrange  a  legislative  separation 
and  a  Federal  Union.  The  representatives  of  the  two  sec- 
tions could  not  agree  on  the  first;  they  therefore  undertook 
to  ascertain  the  jwssibilities  of  the  last.  The  Maritime 
Provinces  had  already  begun  to  consider  if  their  interests 
would  not  be  promoted  by  some  kind  of  federal  union  among 
themselves.  Canadian  statesmen  invited  them  to  entertain 
the  idea  of  a  larger  union.  After  several  years  of  discussion 
and  deliberation  by  the  cabinets,  legislatures  and  people  of  the 
several  Provinces,  and  of  consultation  with  the  English  Gov- 
ernment,  a  plan  of  Confederation  was  agreed  upon.     This 


THE    CONFEDERATION    OF   THE    PROVINCES.  689 

obtained  the  authority  of  a  Constitution,  after  having  been 
accepted  by  the  Imperial  Parliament,  and  received  the  royal 
signature  in  1S67. 

The  legislative  union  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  was 
now  dissolved,  the  Upper  Province  receiving  the  name  of 
Ontario  and  the  Lower  that  of  Quebec.  Each  of  the  Prov- 
inces preserved  its  separate  provincial  organization  and  gov- 
ernment and  a  Central  or  Federal  Government  and  Parlia- 
ment were  constituted.  The  head  of  this  Government  was  a 
Governor  General  representing  the  British  Sovereign;  a  Cab- 
inet of  thirteen  Ministers  formed  the  Executive,  wielding  the 
powers  of  the  crown  in  the  name  of  the  viceroy,  or  Governor 
General,  who,  like  the  Sovereign  in  England,  could  only  ex- 
ercise authority  through  tlie  ministry.  This  ministry  was 
responsible  to  the  Federal  Parliament,  composed  of  a  Senate 
appointed  for  life  by  the  crown — that  is  to  say,  by  the  Gover- 
nor General  under  the  advice  of  the  ministry,  or  Council,  as 
the  executive  Cabinet  is  sometimes  called — and  of  Represent- 
atives elected  by  the  people  of  each  Province  for  five  years. 
The  body  of  Representatives  composed  the  House  of  Com- 
liioiis;  and  the  number,  both  of  Senators  and  Commoners, 
from  each  Province  was  defined  by  the  Constitution,  called 
the  "  North  America  Act."  The  whole  country,  so  embodied, 
was  called"  The  Dominion  of  Canada."  Representation  in  the 
Dominion  and  Provincial  Parliaments  was  arranged  accord- 
ing  to  the  relative  number  of  the  population. 

The  relations  formerly  existing  between  the  separate  Pro- 
vincial Governments  and  that  of  Great  Britain  were  now 
transferred  to  that  of  the  Dominion;  Provincial  Governors — 
they  were  now  named  Lieutenant-Governors — being  appointed 
by  the  Dominion  Government — by  the  "  Governor  in  Council." 
as  the  usual  formula  expressed  it.  The  Confederation  of  tlie 
several  Provinces  was  similar  to  that  of  the  States  of  the 
American  Union,  but  the  general  manner  of  conducting  the 
Government  was  closely  modeled  on  that  of  England.  Ceu- 
44 


690  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

tralized  and  well  organized  for  vigorous  action,  it  was  made 
completely  dependent  on  pul>lic  opinion,  as  expressed  by 
Representatives  elected  by  the  People.  Almost  the  only 
disadvantage  of  such  a  structure  of  the  Executive  arises  from 
its  habit  of  leading  in  almost  all  important  enterprises.  In 
a  more  democratic  structure — in  the  United  States,  at  leasts 
the  executive  is  confined  much  more  strictly  to  the  work  of 
putting  the  laws  in  force. 

Under  the  first  system  the  Government  is  looked  to  for 
leadership  in  all  improvements  for  the  advantage  of  any  con- 
siderable section  of  the  country  or  class  of  the  people;  under 
the  last  the  people  themselves  initiate  measures,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  conduct  them  without  reference  to  the  Govern- 
ment, unless  they  are  of  such  a  nature  that  those  originating 
them  covild  not  reap  the  profit.  Each  system  has  its  advant- 
ages and  disadvantages.  An  executive  to  plan  and  guide 
legislation  seems  better  for  a  country  like  Canada — so  vast 
and  slightly  developed.  An  American  is  accustomed  to  be- 
lieve that  the  less  his  General  Government  has  to  do  with 
business  interests  that  are  capable  of  being  conducted  by 
business  combinations  and  classes  the  better,  and  it  is  no 
doubt  true  for  a  country  so  populous  and  rich,  and  whose  cit- 
izens are  so  enterprising.  The  habit  of  self-dependence  is  a 
good  one,  and  possibly  that  may  make  the  chief  difference  in 
the  two  systems  in  the  long  run.  The  people  of  the  Repub- 
lic have  practiced  it  from  the  start  and  prospered  exceedingly. 
The  opposite  habit  may  not  be  so  favorable  to  Canada  when 
it  gains  fuller  command  of  its  resources;  yet,  in  future  prac- 
tice, it  may  be  so  managed  as  to  avoid  serious  disadvantages. 

At  first,  the  Confederation  included  only  Ontario,  Quebec, 
New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  In  a  few  years  negotia- 
tions through  the  British  Government  with  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  transferred  to  the  Dominion  its  proprietary 
rights  over  the  vast  central  and  northern  regions  of  British 
America  outside  the  then  Dominion.     In  this  region  Mani- 


THE    DOMINION    AND    THE    REPUBLIC.  691 

toba  was  erected  into  a  Province  and  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tories were  organized.  Prince  Edward's  Island  soon  came 
into  the  Confederation  and  also  Bi-itish  Columbia,  comprising 
the  Rocky  Mountain  Plateau,  the  Pacific  Coast  and  Islands. 
It  was  expected  that,  in  the  end,  Newfoundland  would  see 
proper  to  join  the  Dominion  and,  in  time,  many  distinct 
Provinces  are  expected  to  be  constructed  in  the  vast  central 
regions  east  of  the  mountains. 

This  union  was  inspired  and  effected  not  only  by  economic 
considerations  but  by  many  others  having  relation  to  politics 
and  hopes  in  regard  to  the  future.  Had  there  been  no  seri- 
ous differences  of  sympathy  and  national  feeling  the  natural 
relations  of  the  diflerent  sections  of  the  Dominion  would, 
perhaps,  have  tended  to  lead  them  to  desire  a  political 
union  with  the  adjoining  Republic.  There  were,  however, 
many  reasons  why  this  did  not  occur  and  may  never  be  felt 
desirable  by  the  Canadians.  Differences  of  race  and  religion 
have  been  tolerably  arranged  between  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish-speaking Provinces  and  inhabitants  by  the  consideration 
given  by  the  English  Government  to  the  French  language 
and  customs  and  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  The  latter 
was  i-espected  and  pi-otected  by  the  State.  In  the  American 
Union  it  would  be  difficult  to  support  the  guards  now  thrown 
around  it.  The  English  Provinces  have  been  chiefly  settled 
by  immigrants  from  the  British  Isles  since  the  great  changes 
in  the  Constitution  of  England  have  made  it  nearly  the  most 
liberal  of  republics,  under  the  forms  of  a  monarchy,  and  placed 
it  at  the  very  head 'of  modern  political  progress.  In  a  new 
country  like  Canada  those  forms  contribute  to  vigor  and 
success,  politically  and  materially,  and  many  of  the  difficul- 
ties still  remaining  in  England  itself  are  left  behind  by  the 
immigrants.  The  principal  embarrassments  of  a  thousand 
years  of  past  history  are  not  transplanted. 

For  these  and  many  kindred  reasons  they  remain  strongly 
attached  to  the  monarchical  forms  that  have  been  so  ingeni- 


TIIK    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

ons]y  adapted  to  assist  the  execiUioii  of  the  ]>opular  will. 
They  admire  this  system  and  think  they  find  in  it  important 
advantages  over  that  of  the  United  States.  Their  executive 
changes  necessarily  respond  to  changes  in  public  opinion 
without  hesitation.  The  friction  between  an  administration 
unchangeable  but  at  fixed  times  and  the  popular  desires,  which 
ma}'  sometimes  be  seen  in  the  Republic,  is  not  experienced 
by  them.  The  Republic  does  very  well  with  such  a  system 
because  it  is  fairly  adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  people.  But 
it  repels  the  British  Canadian. 

The  Anglo-American,  as  disciplined  in  the  United  States 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  has  acquired  the  marked 
features  of  character  that  distinguish  a  nation.  The  Anglo- 
Canadian  has  been  under  discipline  for  a  shorter  time,  but  the 
great  changes  in  English  colonial  policy,  of  which  the  con- 
quest of  independence  by  the  Thirteen  Colonies  was  the  oc- 
casion, re(pnred  the  emigrants  to  Canada  to  lay  aside  com- 
paratively few  of  the  memories,  habits  and  prepossessions 
brought  from  Europe.  The  larger  space  and  opportunities 
around  the  individual,  the  community  and  business  enter- 
prises, the  great  change  in  climate  and  in  habits,  tend,  in 
many  ways,  to  form  a  new  nation,  but  on  a  considerably  dif- 
ferent model  from  that  of  the  Anglo-American.  They  are 
in  much  closer  harmony  with  modern  England  and  modern 
Europe  than  Americans  can  be,  and  are  daily  receiving  the 
most  modern  of  Europeans  and  the  most  inteligent  and 
pronounced  of  Englishmen  as  component  portions  of  their 
people.  These  are  intelligent  and  sensible  enough  to  harmo- 
nize themselves  readily  with  whatever  they  find  new  and 
strange,  and  usually  they  find  these  differences,  in  the  aggre- 
gate, desirable  and  in  harmony  with  the  tendency  of  liberal 
English  thought  and  aspiration.  They  could  not  so  readily 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  tone  of  American  thought 
when  not  forced  into  the  American  mould  by  the  society 
around  them.     The  United  States  is  a 'nation;  it  takes  long 


NATIONAL    AND    COMMERCIAL    CANADA.  693 

and  severe  experiences  to  form  one  on  a  really  new  model. 
Canada  is  a  New  England  in  a  very  decisive  sense.  It  has 
developed  so  strong  a  tendency  toward  a  distinct  nationality 
with  a  strong  French  leaven  in  it,  that  it  will  not  be  easy  to 
turn  that  tendency  aside  into  really  Anglo-American  chan- 
nels. 

The  definite  establishment  of  the  Dominion,  the  approach- 
ing union  of  all  its  sections  by  railways,  the  great  resources 
that  will  make  the  Confederation  prosperous,  strong  and  re- 
spected seem  likely  to  counterbalance  any  tendencies  of  inter- 
est for  the  time  being  to  lead  them  towards  a  political  union 
with  the  American  Republic.  That  people  has  enough  on  its 
hands  in  territory  and  resources  yet  undeveloped  to  employ 
its  utmost  of  time  and  thouglit  for  generations,  and  tends,  be- 
sides, to  expand  southward  rather  than  northward.  It  is 
not  now,  at  least,  aggressive  in  temper  or  policy  and  is  likely 
soon  to  find  much  advantage  in  an  increasing  reciprocity 
of  trade  and  free  business  intercourse  with  the  forest  regions 
of  Canada.  Such  a  harmonizing  of  interests  is  more  probably 
the  tendency  of  development,  as  now  in  progress  in  both 
countries,  than  political  union.  It  would  leave  freer  scope  to 
the  institutions,  habits  and  strong  elements  of  character 
that  diverge  widely  now,  and  seem  to  incline  to  do  so  yet 
more  in  the  future. 

In  addition  England  is  unlikely  to  desire  such  a  result  in 
any  near  future,  and  there  is  so  much  sympathy  between 
England  and  her  colonies,  the}'  are  so  liberally  treated  by  the 
Mother  Country,  so  much  assisted  In'  her  wealth,  and  so 
protected  by  her  power,  that  Canada  would  scarcely  desire  to 
break  all  these  bonds  against  the  will  of  that  Government. 
The  greatest  obstacles  to  growth  have  been  overcome  by  tlie 
acquisition  of  the  central  valley  of  the  north  and  the  Pacific 
Slope  and  the  great  advance  toward  the  commercial  union  of 
all  sections  by  railroads.  Had  these  western  sections,  and 
especially  the  central  prolongation  of  the  Mississippi  Valley, 


694  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

been  settled  before  the  Union  and  before  railroad  develop- 
ment had  become  so  advanced,  there  miglit  have  been  a 
stronger  tendency  to  intimate  relations  with  the  United  States; 
but  the  Union  was  consummated  between  the  four  stronger 
Provinces  before  the  trans-continental  railway  had  been  com- 
pleted from  the  Missouri  River  to  California;  that  connection 
of  the  East  and  the  AVest  opened  the  mountain  Territories,  the 
mines  and  the  Pacific  Coast  of  the  United  States  to  ready 
and  rapid  development,  and  a  new  era  of  settlement  and  pro- 
gress began  in  the  Republic.  Neither  the  Government  nor 
the  people  of  that  eager  and  prosperous  country  coveted 
British  America.  In  fact,  they  regarded  it  as  part  of  Eng- 
land, did  not  comprehend  its  great  future  and  treated  it  very 
cooly,  partly  for  England's  sake,  and  partly  because  it  had 
been  understood  that  it  desired  the  success  of  the  South  in 
the  Civil  War. 

Had  the  desire  to  smooth  the  way  to  its  entrance  into  polit- 
ical union  ^vith  the  Republic  inspired  the  Government  it  would 
not  have  terminated  reciprocity  of  trade  soon  after  the  close 
of  the  war.  The  cultivation  of  intimate  business  relations 
might  have  terminated  some  day  in  common  sympathies  so 
strong  as  to  liave  paved  the  way  to  such  an  event.  The  oppo- 
site course  was  taken.  Canada  was  driven  to  depend  more 
on  English  aid,  and  the  national  spirit  of  Canada  was  called 
into  livelier  action.  Its  railroad  system  was  completed  from 
the  Atlantic  coast  to  the  Upper  Lakes;  the  Canada  Pacific 
railway  was  begun,  and  tlie  foundations  of  a  vast  develop- 
ment were  laid  in  the  Red  River  Valley  of  the  North  by  the 
organization  of  Manitoba.  Canada  was  beginning  a  great 
career  on  its  own  account. 

That  career  is  yet  scarcely  started.  The  overflowing  abund- 
ance of  the  prairie  States,  the  mines  of  the  West  and  the  rich 
lands  of  the  Pacific  States,  together  with  a  vast  s_ystem  of 
cheap  transportation  enabled  the  fertile  Republic  to  supply 
whatever  the  markets  of  the  world  would  take.   Canada  could 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    NATIONAL    SENTIMENT.  695 

not  compete  because  of  long  distances  and  imperfect  organi- 
zation of  transportation  facilities,  and  her  business  languished. 
Her  turn  has  not  yet  come,  and  she  has  still  many  trials  and 
struggles  before  her.  These  troubles  will,  however,  liarden, 
discipline  and  unite  her  people.  Want  of  sympathy  on  the 
•side  of  the  Republic  will  attach  them  more  and  more  to  their 
own  opening  nationality.  Business  interests  between  them 
and  the  people  of  the  States  lying  near  them  will  multiply  and 
enlarge,  and  interest  will  finally  bring  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment to  desire  to  free  commercial  intercourse  from  embar- 
rassments as  much  as  may  be.  The  growing  national  senti- 
ment of  Canadians  and  the  influence  of  England  are  likely  to 
prevent  a  political  union,  so  far  as  present  tendencies  furnish 
the  hints  for  forecasting. 

The  two  peoples  are  worthy  of  their  sturdy,  sensible,  valiant 
Anglo-Saxon  ancestry,  and  that  common  ancestry  will  always 
form  a  bond  between  them.  Language,  institutions,  habits, 
character,have  sprung  from  the  British  Isles  and  made  them  kin. 
A  community  of  possession  and  interest  in  the  chain  of  Great 
Lakes,  in  the  rich  agricultural  resources  of  the  Central  Val- 
ley of  the  continent  and  on  the  sliores  of  either  ocean,  will 
unite  and  commingle  their  interests  in  a  thousand  ways. 
These  will  all  tend  to  produce  that  kind  and  degree  of  union 
necessary  for  the  highest  prosperity'  of  each.  Local  institu- 
tions and  preferences  are  pi-obably  strong  enough  to  prevent 
political  annexation  since  no  very  important  end  will  be 
gained  by  that  if  free  trade  or  an  approximation  to  it  is 
Otherwise  secured.  It  matters  little  if  mutual  prosperity  and 
good  will  are  fully  provided  for. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    RESOURCES    OF    THE    DOMINION. 

The  northern  part  of  North  America  is  the  oldest  part. 
The  first  land  was  made  here  when  Geological  Time — so  far 
as  the  present  structure  of  the  earth  as  we  know  it  is  con- 
cerned— was  very  young  indeed.  We  have  seen  that  this 
continent  was  composed  of  two  arms  that  extended  from 
Lake  Superior  northeast  to  Labrador  and  northwest  toward 
the  Arctic  Ocean.  The  oldest  ranges  of  elevations  were  pro- 
duced, apparently,  through  the  whole  length  of  these  two 
arms.  Many  geologists  believe  that  these  low  ranges  of 
mountains  were  the  first  that  were  anywhere  raised  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth. 

The  study  of  high  northern  latitudes  is  very  difiicult 
from  the  extreme  cold  that  reigns  there  and  the  deep  cover- 
ing of  snow  and  ice  that  is  spread  over  the  rocks,  liills,  val- 
leys and  plains  during  mucli  of  the  year.  Yet  great  and 
lieroic  efforts  have  been  almost  continually  made,  by  various 
governments  and  by  scientific  men.  to  become  acquainted 
M-ith  these  regions.  Tlieir  geological  structure  is  now  fairly 
well  known  and  tiie  I'ocks  tell  a  singular  story.  They  liave 
not  always  been  subject  to  the  rigors  of  cold  that  now  reign 
tliere.  Until  comparatively  recent  geological  times  they  had 
a  mild  and,  mnch  of  the  time,  a  tro])ical  climate.  During 
the  Coal  Making  Age  the  same  tropical  vegetation  that  we 
liave  seen  produce  the  coal  beds  of  the  Mississi]ipi  Valley 
and  the  Alleghanies  grew  in  the  Arctic  regions  in  a])parently 
equal  profusion.  It  is  certain  that  vast  beds  of  coal  were 
formed  there,  equal  in  quality  to  any  in  the  woi-ld.  so  far  as 
observation  has  been  able  to  determine.  In  fact  u]i  to  the 
close  of  Palaeozoic  Time  or  to  that  of  the  first  great  mountain 

696 


THE    CAUSES    OF    AKGTIC    COLD:  697 

making  period  that  followed  it,  a  tropical  temperature  seems 
to  have  reigned  over  all  regions  and,  apparent!}',  between  that 
period  <A'  elevation  and  the  still  greater  one  that  raised  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  other  vast  ranges  and  extensive  pla- 
teaus, a  temperate' climate  was  generally,  if  not  constantly, 
maintained.  This  time  reaches  down  nearly  to  the  Glacial 
Epoch,  or  Great  Ice  Age.  This  would  ci>ver  the  Mesozoic 
and  part  of  the  Cenozoic  Times.  It  is  probable,  then,  that 
the  Arctic  regions,  in  both  the  New  and  the  Old  AVorlds, 
became  intensely  frigid  onl^'  in  comparatively  recent  times. 
Some  suppose  that  at  intervals,  from  the  beginning  of  rock 
making  time,  the  relations  of  the  earth  and  the  sun  have  be- 
come such  as  to  produce  intense  cold,  at  least  in  the  j)olar 
regions.  This  is  an  astronomical  theory  to  account  for  the 
Glacial  Era,  traces  of  which  are  everywhere  found — in  ncjrth- 
ern  and  temperate  regions,  at  least — but  is  not  yet  definitely 
confirmed — or  proved — by  Geology.  The  periods  of  intense, 
long-continued  cold  whose  traces  are  unmistakable  seem  con- 
fined chiefly  to  times  later  than  the  definite  raising  of  high 
mountains  and  broad  plateaus.  Changes  of  level  certainly 
occurred  immediatelv  before  and  after  the  Age.  or  Aijes,  of 
Ice  which  have  done  so  much  to  improve  the  agricultural 
value  of  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  but  these  were  mere  oscil- 
lations in  which  submersions  beneath  the  waters  were  followed 
by  a  return  to  the  original  position,  or  very  nearly  so.  The 
astronomical  theoi-y  of  the  frequent  recurrence  of  Glacial 
Epochs  may  hereafter  be  confirmed  but  does  not,  as  yet,  seem 
to  accord  with  observations  of  this  kind. 

This  former  tropical  and  temperate  climate  of  the  now 
frozen  Xorth,  together  with  the  well-proved  fact  that  land 
first  appeared  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  continents  and  was 
gradually  extended  southward,  has  led  some  U>  suppose  that 
the  northern  regions  were  first  made  habitable  for  man  and 
that  he  made  his  earliest  appearance  there.  The  rocks  of 
British  America — the  old  Laurentiau  Continent  as  it  is  called 


698  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

— are  the  oldest  of  all  known  rocks  and  thirty  thousand  feet 
— nearly  six  miles — in  thickness.  The  Primal  or  Azoic  rocks 
are  here  developed  more  perfectly  and  extensively  than  any 
where  else  in  the  world.  Some  geologists  suppose  that  they 
received  later  deposits  in  the  Palaeozoic  and  Mesozoic  Times, 
which  were  graded  down  and  washed  away  afterwards  by 
iitmospheric  influences  and  the  great  Ice  Floe,  or  Glacier,  to 
form  the  rocks  so  extensively  laid  in  the  waters  at  the  south. 
It  does  not,  however,  appear  certain  that  they  were  ever 
wholly  sunk  beneath  the  sea  after  their  first  elevation. 

Remains  of  plants  and  animals  that  can  live  only  in  a  warm 
climate  are  found  in  the  rocks  of  the  extreme  frozen  north  wher- 
ever the  geologist  has  been  able  to  make  careful  explorations, 
and  it  is  thought  by  some  that  they  made  their  first  appear- 
ance somewhere  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  Alaska,Greenland 
or  adjacent  regions,  and  spread,  by  pathways  that  have  since 
disajjpeared,  to  Europe  on  one  side  and  Asia  on  tlie  other. 
The  frequent  succession  of  plants  in  Europe  in  ])eriods  fi)l- 
lowing  their  appearance  here  seems  to  confirm  this  conjec- 
ture. More  recently  it  lias  been  suggested  that  the  first 
appearance  of  man  was  here,  and  that  the  primitive  tribes 
peopled  the  other  continents  from  this.  Stiidy  is  not  suffi- 
ciently mature  to  confirm  or  disprove  these  suggestions. 
There  are  some  things  tending  to  favor  them  quite  strongly 
but  it  is  too  early  to  venture  a  definite  opinion. 

Those  who  have  not  studied  the  subject  are  apt  to  imagine 
that  Canada  is  too  cold,  barren  and  inhospitable  to  be  of 
much  value  for  the  residence  of  large  numbers  of  the  human 
race.  The  fertile  soil  and  moderate  climate  of  the  United 
States  are  supposed  to  include  the  most  of  the  northern  parts 
of  the  continent  that  may  be  lived  in  with  comfort,  and  are 
permanently  productive.  This,  however,  is  a  great  mistake. 
The  attention  of  the  world,  and  especially  of  the  Anglo-Ameri- 
can, has  been  so  occupied  and  monopolized  by  the  spectacle 
of  the   extraordinary  growth  and  vast  wealth  of  the  Repnb- 


GKEAT    EXTENT    OF    FERTILE    LAND    IN    THE    DOMINION.      699 

lie  that  little  notice  has  been  taken  of  other  regions.  It 
has  been  wrongly  inferred  that,  since  they  were  less  prom- 
inent for  the  time  in  the  public  eye,  they  had  few  attractions 
and  advantages.  The  northern  latitude  and  many  graphic 
descriptions  by  travelers  of  some  of  the  wilder  and  ruder 
regions  has  conveyed  the  idea  that  British  America,  gener- 
ally, was  desolate  and  practically  uninhabitable,  or  quite  unlit 
for  promoting  the  prosperity  of  a  large  population.  Some 
of  the  northern  regions  of  the  United  States  belong  to  the 
Azoic  areas  and  are  of  little  agricultural  value.  In  popular 
apprehension  these  sterile  regions  were  supposed  to  be  repre- 
sentative of  the  further  north,  generally,  and  so  have  prej- 
udiced still  more  regions  that  have  really  the  fertility  and 
value  of  central  New  York,  or  Ohio,  or  even  the  northern 
prairies  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

In  fact  Canada  has  an  extremely  large  quantity  of  land 
furnished  with  a  deep,  soft,  rich  soil  from  the  same  sources 
that  provided  the  most  fertile  elements  of  the  Great  Valley 
itself,  while  beneatli  this  lie  wide-spread  rocks  of  limestone, 
sandstone,  marl  and  shales  formed  at  the  same  time  and  in  same 
way  as  in  the  most  fertile  parts  of  the  Valley  south  and  west 
of  the  Great  Lakes.  It  is  true  that  a  large  part  of  the  surface 
of  the  Dominion  is  too  cold  and  sterile  for  profitable  agricul- 
tural uses,  but  much  of  this  has  a  value  for  other  purposes.  The 
whole  of  the  Dominion  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  United  States, 
leaving  out  Alaska;  and  it  may  be  considered  that  the  fertile 
parts  of  it,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  that  may  be  em- 
ployed profitably  in  agriculture  aggregate  about  1,200,000 
square  miles — or  about  the  same  surface  as  the  immediate 
basin  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  Of  this  only 
two-thirds  is,  according  to  some,  fairly  proved  to  be  arable, 
with  a  climate  suitable  for  successful  farming.  This,  how- 
ever, is  quite  as  likely  to  be  a  mistake  as  the  former  notion 
that  the  "Plains"  were  a  desert,  beyond  the  one-hundredth 
meridian.     The  forest-producing  regions — those  which  may 


700  THE    DOMINIDN    OF    CANADA. 

bOuiier  or  later  become  valuable  as  sources  of  iuconie — amount 
to  about  500,000  si^uare  miles.  Part  of  this  grows  on  fertile 
land,  but  the  larger  part  is  I'ough,  on  mountain  slopes,  or  in 
regions  having  a  climate  too  severe  for  a  dense  popula- 
tion. 

The  three  most  important  periods  of  mountain  elevation 
nearly  correspond  with  the  beginning  of  the  three  great  di- 
visions of  geological  time — the  Palaeozoic,  the  Mesozoio  and 
the  Cenozoic.  These  elevations  probably  had  a  determining 
effect  .so  decisive  on  the  progressive  development  of  rock 
and  continent-making,  on  the  temperature  and  constitution 
of  both  air  and  water,  and  introduced  so  many  modifica- 
tions that  the  whole  condition  of  things  was  changed, 
and  a  new  Era  opened.  At,  or  Tiear,  the  commencement 
of  the  Palaeozoic  Age  the  Laurentides,  or  Laurentian  hills 
of  Canada,  were  raised.  It  was  primary,  or  x\zoic,  rock 
that  was  so  raised;  and  this  rock  was  30,000  feet  in 
thickness.  It  had  been  formed  in  the  waters  while  the 
crust  of  the  earth  was  so  thin  as  to  be  extremely  hot,  and  the 
rock  was  very  much  changed.  It  is  called  "metamorphic," 
which  means  that  the  minerals  in  the  rock  had  been  crystal- 
lized by  the  heat  after  they  had  been  deposited  in  the  water, 
and  tliat  the  traces  of  stratification  had  nearly  disappeared. 
They  were  baked  and  hardened,  somewhat  as  we  see  in  clay 
when  it  is  made  into  blocks  and  subjected  to  intense  heat  in 
a  furnace.     It  comes  out  as  brick. 

These  rocks  do  not  readily  dissolve  into  the  fine  dust 
necessary  to  make  soil.,  and  the  regions  where  they  are  found 
on  the  surface  are  always  poor  for  agriculture.  They  cover 
an  immeTise  area  in  Canada.  They  hold  water  well,  wher- 
ever there  are  depressions,  and  are  generally  remarkable  for 
a  great  number  of  lakes  on  the  surface  which  they  underlie. 
British  America  has  an  immense  number  of  these  lakes.  The 
chain  of  Great  Lakes  between  the  Dominion  of  Canada  'aiui 
the  United  States  was   formed  by  depressions  in    this   hard, 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    SOIL    OF    THE    NORTHWEST.  701 

primitive  inetainorphic  rock,  and  along  the  western  line  of 
development  of  these  rocks  northwest  of  Lake  Superior  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean  there  is  a  long  string  of  them — many  being  large. 
This  rock  lays  nearer  the  surface  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota 
than  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  which  accounts,  in  large 
part,  for  their  lake  region.--.  However  fertile  the  surface  the 
rocks  beneath  are  not  porous  hut  hard  and  lirm  and  hold 
the  water  that  finds  its  way  to  depressions — or  small  basins — 
in  them.  Yet,  over  various  parts  of  these  hard  baked  rocks 
in  the  Dominion  the  ice  floe  of  the  Glacial  Epoch  spread 
much  finely  ground  material  and  thereby  supplied  all  the 
elements  of  fertility,  as  was  the  case  in  much  of  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota. 

But,  besides  this  "  Drift "  from  the  moving  ice,  some  parts 
of  the  Dominion  were  under  water  during  the  latest  rock- 
making  times  before,  and  also  after  the  Glacial  Period,  and  so 
received  a  coating  of  the  softer  and  richer  rocks,  and  the 
Drift  was  so  well  distributed  as  to  furnish  the  Dominion  with 
much  excellent  soil.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  the 
central  trough  of  the  continent,  or  the  northern  continuation 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  between  the  Laurentian  elevation 
west  of  Hudson  Bay  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Manitoba, 
and  the  Northwest  Territories — which  last  extend  as  far 
north  as  the  summer  is  long  enough  for  agriculture,  that  is, 
to  the  fifty-sixth  degree  of  north  latitude  above  the  valley  of 
the  Peace  River — lie  in  this  central  trough.  It  remained  un- 
der the  waters  as  a  wide  strait  until  the  Rocky  Mountains 
were  permanently  raised.  The  formation  is  the  same  as  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  only  it  was  not  washed  and  worn 
away  so  ranch  in  the  slow  process  of  being  raised.  The 
"  Plains"  west  of  the  Missouri  River  had  the  open  Valley  in 
front  and  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  Rivers  to  carry  ofi^  the 
surface  mud.  In  British  America  the  mountains  closed  in 
this  trough  on  either  side.  It  did  not  wash  very  heavily. 
The  ice  carried  some  of  the  surface  before  it  over  the  water- 


702  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

shed  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  l)ut  the  amount  was 
apparently  small  compared  with  what  was  washed  away  from 
the  surface  of  the  plains. 

That  there  is  a  great  depth  of  drift  and  soft  rock  here  is 
shown  by  the  remarkable  depths  of  the  channels  of  the  rivers. 
The  Saskatchewan,  the  Peace  and  other  rivers  and  their  tribu- 
taries flow  in  beds  from  two  to  five  hundred  feet  below  the 
general  surface  of  the  country,  with  valleys  from  half  a  mile 
to  a  mile  and  a  half  in  width.  This  soft  surface  is  naturally 
fitted  for  cultivation  so  far  as  the  climate  permits,  and  this 
is  sufiiciently  favorable  as  far  north  as  the  latitude  of  the 
peninsula  of  Alaska. 

The  Basin  of  the  Great  Lakes  is  naturally  as  fertile  on  the 
northern  as  on  the  southern  side  wherever  it  was  low  and 
level  enough  to  receive  the  drift  deposit  produced  during 
the  Glacial  Period;  and  the  lower  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  an  arm  of  the  sea  during  the  Champlain  Period  that 
followed  the  Age  of  Ice.  Lake  Champlain  was  then  an  inland 
sea  visited  by  whales,  and  the  water  is  declared  to  have  stood 
several  hundred  feet  deep  over  the  site  of  Montreal.  It  was 
gradually  raised  during  the  Terrace  Epoch  that  followed  next; 
but  a  vast  amount  of  fertilizing  material  was  spread  over 
the  lower  and  more  level  parts  of  the  St.  Lawrence  valley 
when  the  sea  retired. 

The  Laurentian  hills,  or  mountains,  are  low,  seldom  ex- 
ceeding 1,000  feet,  except  near  Lake  Superior.  There  are 
several  ranges,  the  one  farthest  north  forming  the  watershed 
between  the  streams  that  flow  into  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
those  flowing  into  Hudson's  Bay. 

The  Laurentian  range  furthest  south  skirts  the  St.  Lawrence 
River  from  a  little  below  Quebec  to  its  mouth,  and  a  kind  of 
mountain  plateau,  or  a  sea  of  hills  from  two  to  five  hundred 
miles  wide,  fills  the  intervening  space.  There  are  occasionally 
rivers  with  their  valleys,  lakes  with  more  or  less  extensive 
basins,  find  lar<?e  tracts  of  fertile  land  scattered  thro'ieh  this 


THE    SOIL    OF    ONTARIO    AND    QUEBEC.  703 

space  and  within,  or  northwest  of,  the  kiwer  Laurentide. 
Sucli  a  fertile  area  is  found  on  the  Sagueiiay  River  and  in  the 
basin  of  Lake  St.  John,  from  which  it  tlows.  The  Saguenay 
is  about  200  miles  long — a  narrow  Init  deep  and  powerful 
stream.  About  its  headwaters  and  along  its  course  is  good 
agricultural  land  that  would  well  sustain  half  a  million  of 
jjcople.  The  ice  tlow  of  the  Glacial  Period,  the  disintegrating 
force  of  the  atmosphere  of  countless  ages  and  perhaps  some 
deposits  from  the  sea  in  the  Champlain  Era  have  provided  a 
soil  over  all  this  low  mountain  region  sutHcient  for  forest 
icrowth  where  winds  from  Arctic  ocean  currents  render  it  too 
cold  for  successful  farming.  It  has  been  stated  that  there 
were  nearly  three  hundred  thousand  s(juare  miles  of  valuable 
forest  in  the  Provinces  of  Quebec  and  Ontario  (Lower  and 
Upper  Canada). 

The  Ottawa  River  flows  into  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Montreal 
from  the  northwest,  after  a  course  of  about  800  miles,  passing 
the  lower  Laurentide  about  a  hundred  miles  above,  and  nearly 
west  of  Montreal.  This  range  then  sweeps  around  to  Kings- 
ton, at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario,  thence  across  westward  to 
Georgian  Bay,  on  the  east  side  of  Lake  Huron,  and  then 
north  and  west  along  the  shores  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Supe- 
rior, where  the  elevation  rises  to  its  maximum — some  2,500 
feet.  It  was  supposed,  until  late  years,  that  good  farming 
land  was  to  be  found  only  south  of  this  range;  but  this  has 
been  found  an  error.  The  upper  valley  of  the  Ottawa,  espe- 
cially on  the  Lake  Huron  side,  is  almost  as  valuable  as  that 
south  of  this  Laurentide,  and  the  area  large.  It  is  now  be- 
ing settled  and  farmed  with  success,  and  the  Capital  of  the 
Dominion  is  located  at  the  east  side  of  it,  on  the  Upper  Ot- 
tawa. The  winters  are  modified  by  the  vicinity  of  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  climate  is  no  more  sevei-e  than  at  Montreal. 

The  second  period  of  mountain  making  is  represented  in 
the  northern  termination  of  the  AUeghanies,  which  skirt  the 
St.  Lawrence  on  the  south  at  the  distance  of  twenty  to  fitW 


704 


THK    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 


miles,  and  end  on  tlic  sliores  of  tlie  (tuU'  of  tlie  same  name. 
Tlie  higher  elevations  are  ahont  1,500  feet.  Another  nearly 
jKirallel  range  passes  tlirongh  the  whole  length  of  Nova 
Scotia  north  of  its  center.  Tlie  surface  is  raised  along  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  -^Nova  Scotia,  leaving  a  valley,  or  hasin, 
thirty  to  forty  miles  wide,  very  agreeable  and  fertile.  North- 
west of  the  Cobe(|nid,  or  central,  range  of  Nova  Scotia,  are 
fertile  tracts,  or  minor  basins,  and  the  monntains  themselves 
are  wooded  and  possess  a  fertile  soil.  The  Bay  of  Fundy  lies 
between  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  the  latter  lying 
rather  high,  in  general,  as  a  moderate  plateau  between  the 
two  ranges  of  monntains.  traversed  with  rivers  and  their  val- 
leys and  as  fertile  as  the  best  parts  of  New  England — perhaps 
more  so  since  a  large  part  of  its  surface  is  underlaid  by  rocks 
of  late  formation  and  only  elevated  after  the  Great  Goal 
Making  Era,  when  the  Alleghanies  were  produced. 

There  was  an  extensive  development  of  coal  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, Nova  Scotia,  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  of  excel- 
lent quality  and  lying  near  the  coast.  These  deposits  are  the 
more  valuable  by  reason  of  their  accessibility  from  the  sea  and 
the  coasts,  and  being  on  the  track  of  the  vastand  irrowinircom- 
merce  between  Europe  and  North  America.  Canadian  de- 
velopment has  been-  so  limited,  and  attention  so  fully  occu- 
pied with  the  neighboring  fisheries  and  the  lumber  interest, 
which  the  fine  forests  of  these  Provinces  and  their  situation 
made  so  important,  that  their  agricultural  and  mining  wealth 
have  had  comparatively  little  stimulus.  New  Brunswick  is 
said  to  liave  about  10,000  square  miles  of  coal  field  and  Nova 
Scotia  and  Cape  Breton  have  vast  quantities  in  very  thick 
beds,  and  of  high  quality.  A  remarkable  future,  agricultural, 
commercial,  manufacturing  and  mining,  awaits  this  part  of 
the  Dominion.  So  far,  the  Great  Republic  has  made  such  a 
stir  in  the  world  as  to  turn  even  the  attention  of  England 
from  these  vast  and  valuable  resources.  The  Atlantic  Slope 
and  the  Great  Valley  are  now  so  advanced  in   growth  as  to 


J 


HOW    THE    NORTHWEST    GETS    ITS    WARM   CLIMATE.  705 

permit  industrial  and  commercial  enterprises  to  occupy  them- 
selves with  the  great  and  varied  resources  of  the  Dominion 
which  lay  so  near  the  great  centers  of  modern  activity  as  to 
be  overlooked  simply  because  they  were  just  outside  the 
beaten  *track  in  which  capital  and  enterprise  had  learned  to 
flow. 

The  third,  and  greatest  mountain  making  epoch  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Dominion  on  the  western  borders  of  tlie  central 
trough.  The  eastern  summits  of  the  Kocky  Mountains  bound 
the  Northwest  Territories  on  the  west.  The  Rocky  Mountain 
Plateau  fills  most  of  the  space  between  these  summits  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  forming,  with  the  islands  on  the  coast,  the 
Province  of  British  Columbia.  The  mountains  here  approach 
their  northern  termination  and  crowd  the  plateau  into  less 
space  as  well  as  very  much  diminish  the  general  altitude  they 
reach  between  the  Great  Valley  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  farther 
south.  A  few  summits  rise  from  12,000  to  15,000  feet;  but 
the  general  height  of  the  Main  Pidge  is  from  4,000  to  7,000 
feet,  while  some  of  the  passes  fall  considerably  below  3,000. 
This  low  structure  has  an  important  effect  on  the  climate  of 
the  trough,  or  basin,  east  of  the  mountains  and  gives  greater 
effect  to  the  influence  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  its  warm  Asi- 
atic currents  on  the  Plateau  itself.  Especially  favorable  is 
the  subsidence  of  the  mountain  ranges  and  plateau  in  the 
north,  where  the  Peace  River  breaks  through  the  main  ridge 
and  flows  into  the  central  basin  to  join  the  Mackenzie.  This 
is  nearly  opposite  the  retreat  of  the  coast  line  inward  at  the 
southern  part  of  Alaska  where  the  warm  Japan  Current 
reaches  the  American  continent.  The  warm  winds  readily 
cross  the  comparatively  narrow  and  low  mountain  heights 
and  modify  the  climate  of  the  Peace  River  valley  remarka- 
bly. It  is  the  most  northern  region  on  the  continent  adapted 
to  extensive  agricultural  development,  and  this  aid  from  the 
warmth  of  the  Pacific  current  renders  it  as  eminent  in  favor- 
able features  of  climate  as  its  geological  formations  made 
45 


706 


THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 


it  in  virtues  of  soil.  Altliougb  it  lias  a  severe  winter 
from  tlie  fiow  of  Arctic  cold  up  the  Mackenzie,  it  is  not  more 
severely  felt,  probably,  than  at  Quebec,  and  its  summer  is  as 
favorable  to  the  growth  of  vegetation  as  the  shores  of  Lake 
Ontario.  The  wild  flowers  and  plants  in  both  are  said  to  be 
largely  the  same  and  the  components  of  its  soil  are  not  ex- 
celled in  all  the  world  for  abundant  elements  of  fertility. 
From  the  northern  fertile  limits  of  this  valley  to  the  United 
States  Boundary  Line  there  are  said  to  be  600,000  square 
miles  adapted  to  the  uses  of  agriculture,  more  or  less  admir- 
ably. 

Part  of  this  immense  region  is  heavily  wooded,  the  basin 
of  the  Peace  Kiver  itself  lying  north  of  the  forest  regions; 
part  of  it  is  a  beautiful  rolling  prairie;  and  adjoining  sections 
next  to  the  mountains,  which  are  considered  too  slightly  wa- 
tered for  successful  agriculture,  are  valuable  for  grazing. 
This  has,  for  unnumbered  ages,  been  a  favorite  feeding  ground 
of  vast  herds  of  buffalo,  and  is  substantially  the  same  in  soil 
and  climate  as  the  "  Plains  "  west  of  the  Mississippi.  If  the 
winters  are  colder,  the  air  is  drier,  more  fully  supplied  with 
oxygen,  and  the  cold  is  not  more  harmful  or  uncomfortable 
than  in  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes,  or,  at  least,  at  Quebec. 
The  soil  freezes  to  the  depth  of  some  feet,  spring  comes  on 
suddenly  and  rapidly,  and  the  frost,  long  retained  beneath 
the  surface,  furnishes  moisture  to  vegetation  until  growing 
plants  have  acquired  strength,  thfe  heats  of  summer  liave 
reached  their  height  and  are  ready  to  mature  the  crops  in 
the  soft,  deep  soil.  Thus,  if  the  growing  season  is  shorter 
than  farther  south,  the  speed  made  in  growth  is  greater, 
the  harvest  is  none  the  less  sure,  and  even  more  abundant  for 
all  the  most  important  cereals  and  roots. 

This  central  region,  it  is  believed,  may  easily  sustain  100,- 
000,000  people  when  fully  developed,  and  cultivation,  tree- 
planting  and  the  various  appliances  and  activities  of  civilized 
life  will  be  sure  to  promote  as  important  favorable  modifica- 


THE    PACIFIC    COAST    IN    THE    DOMINION.  707 

tions  in  the  climate  as  on  the  "  Plains  "  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley below.  There  will  be  more  rain-fall  and  therefore  an  en- 
largement of  the  fertile  area,  as  well  as  increased  fertility; 
winds  will  be  less  severe  and  powerful  in  winter  from  the  in- 
crease of  wind-breaks;  and  probably  the  actual  intensity  of 
cold  will  be  decreased.  It  is  an  extremely  healthy  region. 
The  tonic  quality  of  the  air  and  the  long  rest  of  winter  pro- 
mote physical  vigor,  intelligence,  and  pleasant  social  inter- 
course, and  it  seems  probable  that  the  best  and  most  rapid 
progress  in  all  the  lines  of  the  highest  civilization  will  be  at 
least  equalled  here  when  settlement  is  complete,  and  indus- 
trial, political  and  social  affairs  are  fully  organized. 

The  mountain  plateau  and  Pacific  Coast  region  of  British 
Columbia  have  peculiar  and  great  advantages.  Tliere  are  two 
principal  ranges  of  mountains — the  Coast  Range  next  the 
Pacific,  and  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain  proper,  on  the  east. 
These  are  not  far  from  300  miles  apart — the  intervening  plat- 
eau varying  from  1,500  to  3,500  feet  in  height,  with  some 
few  localities  of  considerable  extent  yet  higher  in  level.  The 
southern  part  of  this  interior  is  di-ained  by  two  large  river 
systems — the  Columbia  and  the  Frazer.  The  basin  of  the 
Columbia  within  the  Dominion  is  said  to  cover  45,000  square 
miles.  It  is  the  northern  extremity  of  the  interior  trough, 
or  high  valley,  of  which  eastern  Washington  and  Oregon, 
Idaho  and  western  Montana,  Utah  and  Arizona  are  the  south- 
ern continuation  to  the  Gulf  of  California.  The  climate  is 
modified  by  vicinity  to  the  warm  waters  and  winds  of  the 
Pacific  fioH'ing  up  ^through  the  coast  valleys  and  over  the 
mountains.  The  Cascade  or  Coast  Range  precipitates  most 
of  the  moisture  of  the  clouds,  and  much  of  the  land  needs 
artificial  irrigation  to  produce  reliable  crops;  but  water  from 
mountain  streams  is  plentiful,  and  the  soil  wonderfully  fertile. 
Lands  too  high,  or  with  a  soil  too  thin  for  agriculture  are 
clothed  with  excellent  and  most  valuable  forests,  or  are  admir- 
ably fitted  for  grazing.     The  valleys  are  extremely  fertile  and 


708  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

the  basin  plateaus  they  drain,  especially  on  the  east,  are  exten- 
sive, and,  with  irrigation,  will  become  an  extremely  valuable 
and  productive  farming  region. 

The  higlier  ])lateaus,  in  the  centre,  seem  unadapted  to 
farming  but  are  believed  to  furnish  large  areas  suitable  for 
that  purpose  further  north,  where  the  plateau  is  often  less 
than  2,000  feet  high.  The  remainder  is  valuable  for  raising 
stock,  and  furnishes  vast  quantities  of  lumber.  The  Cascade 
Range  approaches  the  coast  in  some  places,  and  in  others  is 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  miles  inland,  and  the  sea  line  is  ex- 
tremely irregular.  There  is  a  succession  of  islands,  some- 
times so  numerous  as  to  form  an  archipelego,  bays  and 
inlets  run  far  into  the  land  and  often  branch  in  various  direc- 
tions, forming  an  extraordinary  sum  of  water  line.  British 
Columbia  on  the  continent  borders  the  ocean  in  a  straight 
line  less  than  600  miles;  yet  it  is  estimated  that  all  the  irreg- 
ularities of  the  shore  and  the  islands  bordering  give  a  water 
water  line  of  10,000  miles. 

The  island  of  Vancouver,  off  the  coast,  contains  16,000 
square  miles,  with  much  fertile  land.  The  other  islands, 
some  of  them  of  great  size,  and  the  level  portions  of  the  main 
land  west  of  the  Cascades,  are  abundantly  watered,  and  mostly 
covered,  especially  the  latter,  and  the  sides  of  the  mountains, 
with  vast  quantities  of  some  of  the  most  valuable  shipbuild- 
ing timber  in  the  world.  No  region  excels  it,  unless  it  be 
the  Pacific  coast  of  Washington,  Oregon  and  California  below. 

We  have  seen  that  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Dominion 
was  well  supplied  with  coal,  produced  at  the  close  of  the  Pal- 
aeozoic time  during  the  Great  Coal-making  or  Carboniferous 
Age.  The  Northwest  Territories  have  deposits  much  more 
extensive  in  area,  made  during  the  last  part  of  the  Meso- 
zoic,  and,  perhaps,  the  early  periods  of  Cenozoic  Times,  just 
before  the  Rocky  Mountains  were  raised.  The  coast  of  Brit- 
ish Columbia  and  the  eastern  side  of  Vancouver  Island  have 
very  large  and  valuable  deposits,  and  a  basin  from  one  to  two 


THE    MINEEAL    EESOUECES    OF    THE    DOMINION.  709 

hundred  miles  from  the  Pacific  in  the  interior,  is  believed  to 
have  a  large  extent  of  surface  underlaid  with  it.  It  is  more 
perfectly  reduced — that  is,  more  carbon  and  less  lignite — than 
some  of  the  coal  of  the  Western  United  States,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that,  on  the  coast,  it  will  answer  all  the  purposes  of 
steam  production  for  commerce,  and  in  the  interior,  the  re- 
quirements of  the  railroad,  of  manufactures  and  of  the  house- 
hold. On  Queen  Charlotte — a  large  island  some  600  miles 
north  of  the  Straits  of  Fuca — there  is  anthracite  coal. 

Metals  of  almost  all  kinds  are  extremely  abundant  in  most 
parts  of  the  Dominion.  Gold  and  silver  are  found  in  mod- 
erate quantities  in  the  Eastern  Provinces  and  near  Lake 
Superior,  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  seem  to  be  as  rich  in 
precious  metals  in  British  Columbia  as  in  Montana  and 
Idaho  adjoining.  The  regions  where  they  have  been  found 
most  abundant,  as  yet,  lie  far  in  the  interior,  the  country  is 
extremely  new  and  the  difliculties  in  the  way  of  mining  de- 
velopment have  been  very  great.  Some  $50,000,000  have 
been  obtained,  chiefly  in  gold,  from  British  Columbia.  Iron 
and  copper  are  above  measure  abundant  in  the  vicinity  of 
Lake  Superior  and  elsewhere  on  the  borders  of  the  primal 
Azoic  continent;  salt  is  abundant;  petroleum  has  been  found 
in  Ontario  and  there  is  promise  of  it  in  other  regions;  lead, 
chemical  fertilizers  and  the  finest  marbles  and  building  stone 
are  found  in  the  eastern  regions,  and  vast  supplies  of  many 
other  metals  and  minerals  are  likely  to  be  furnished  as  they 
are  sought  for. 

One  of  the  remarkable  features  of  the  Dominion  is  the 
extent  and  value  of  its  fisheries.  Those  of  the  Eastern  Prov- 
inces, in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  on  the  Banks  of  Newfound- 
land and  the  adjacent  coasts  are  very  extensive  and  have  been 
improved  by  the  French,  the  English,  Americans  and  Canadi- 
ans since  the  days  of  Columbus.  The  value  of  the  fisheries  is 
now  to  the  Dominion  nearly  $14,000,000  annually,  and  France 
and  the  United  States  have  treaty  rights  of  taking  fish  ofi'  the 


I 


710  THE   DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

coast  almost  equal  to  those  of  Canadians  and  English  them- 
selves. The  value  of  fisheries  in  the  Lakes  of  the  interior, 
in  the  long  rivers,  the  mighty  St.  Lawrence  and  the  waters 
of  Central  British  America,  or  the  great  Northwest,  is  very 
large,  though  comparatively  undeveloped.  Those  of  the  coast 
of  British  Columbia  are  equal  if  not  superior  in  importance 
to  the  Atlantic  fisheries.  The  many  inlets,  which  often  run 
fifty  miles  into  the  land,  the  wide  and  deep  mouths  of  rivers 
and  the  vast  quantities  that  throng  the  waters  of  tlie  Pacific 
on  the  coast  and  about  the  islands  constitute  togetlier  a  very 
extensive  fishing  ground.  Tlie  warm  Asiatic  Ocean  current 
which  strikes  this  coast  is  similar  to  the  Gulf  Stream  that 
passes  over  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  and  is  probably  the 
cause  of  the  rendezvous  of  fish  in  each  locality  to  such  an 
amazing  extent.  Probably  the  value  of  both  eastern  and 
western  fisheries  will  in  a  few  decades  become  worth  $100,- 
000,000  annually.  This  industry  is  one  of  great  value  also 
for  other  reasons  than  its  immediate  money  estimate.  It 
raises  up  a  large,  hardy  and  skillful  seafaring  population, 
encourages  the  growth  of  commerce  and  shipbuilding  and 
educates  seamen  for  the  Dominion  navy  as  they  may  be  re- 
quired. Its  tendency  to  develop  ocean  commerce  is  strong. 
This  commerce  becomes  a  source  of  great  financial  gain  and 
national  growtli  since  it  tends  to  provide  foreign  markets  for 
the  productions  of  the  country. 

Canada  is  overflowing  with  resources  of  various  and  most 
important  kinds  and  only  awaits  the  proper  time  for  their 
development  to  become  one  of  the  most  comfortably  prosper- 
ous countries  in  tlie  world.  Its  hour  has  not  yet  struck,  but 
is  probably  near  at  hand.  The  United  States  had  the  largest 
body  of  rich  land  in  a  temperate  climate  in  the  world.  AU 
its  other  resources  were  of  immense  magnitude,  easily  access 
ible  and  lying  in  the  pleasantest  part  of  the  temperate  zone. 
At  the  most  favorable  time  it  built  a  new  and  improved  re- 
public which  was  guided  by  all  the  wisdom,  energy  and   skill 


HOPE  BECKONS  IN  THE  NEAR  FUTURE.         711 

of  a  select  European  race.  It  and  its  land  became  famous 
and  almost  monopolized  the  attention  of  the  floating  enter- 
prize  and  capital  of  the  civilized  world.  Only  when  its  vast 
opportunities  were  so  fully  acquired  and  developed  by  private 
parties  that  both  capital  and  enterprize  should  remain  unem- 
ployed, or  should  fail  to  find  extraordinary  openings  for  profit- 
able use,  could  neighboring  fields  more  difficult  of  access,  of 
less  prestige,  and  whose  value  prejudice  had  obscured,  receive 
adequate  attention. 

In  addition  to  this  obscuring  influence  of  the  name,  fame 
and  marvelous  growth  of  the  Great  Republic,  in  the  shadow 
of  which  the  possessions  of  England  in  America  lay  almost 
hidden,  unknown  to  or  unvalued  by  England  itself,  were  the 
various  features  of  its  own  history.  The  fine  economic  vir- 
tues of  the  early  French  settlers  lay  dormant  under  the  mis- 
takes in  the  colonial  p»licy  of  France;  then  they  were  shut 
in  and  antagonized  by  a  strange  race  which  settled  both  east 
and  west  of  them.  The  English  colonies  were  comparatively 
small,  poor,  scattered  and  dissociated  from  each  other.  The 
railroad  and  telegraph  alone  could  conquer  the  long  distances 
that  kept  them  apart,  without  good  markets  or  the  strength 
to  force  their  way  to  them.  The  situation  is  changed  and 
changing  and  a  great  career  lies  within  their  grasp. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE   PRESENT    AND    FUTURE    OF    THE    DOMINION. 

In  1867,  the  year  of  Confederation,  the  realized  and  avail- 
able wealth  of  British  North  America,  including  Newfound- 
land besides  all  that  now  composes  the  Dominion,  was  esti- 
mated by  a  competent  authority  at  one  thousand,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-six  million  dollars.  This  included  only  the  sum  of 
private  property,  exclusive  of  railways,  canals,  public  build- 
ings, and  all  property  that  belonged  to  the  public  domain,  as 
also  of  lands  not  in  farms,  lumber,  mines  and  fisheries.  It 
was  estimated  in  1S70  that  these  same  values  liad  increased 
by  at  least  five  hundred  million  dollars.  Development  has 
been  continued  another  decade — rapidly  for  the  first  three 
years  following  1870,  and  much  more  slowly  since  187i. 

During  most  of  these  six  years  the  world  at  large  suflered 
under  great  financial  depression.  Great  difiiculties  surrounded 
many  of  the  larger  enterprises  of  business.  General  values 
were  diminished  and  the  activities  of  capital  and  enterprise 
were  seriously  restrained.  Yet  the  same  actual  property 
existed  and  continued  to  increase.  Prosperity  did  not  seem 
as  great  as  it  actually  was  from  the  greater  slowness  of 
interchanges  and  difficulty  of  immediately  realizing  their 
ordinary  value.  They  were  as  fictitiously  low  as,  in  times  of 
brisk  movement  and  financial  buoyancy,  they  were  fictitiously 
high.  At  the  close  of  the  decade  commencing  with  1870  the 
realized  wealth  of  the  Dominion  must  have  been  equal  to 
three  thousand  million  dollars,  at  least,  besides  a  very  great 
improvement  in  the  facilities  and  instruments  with  which  a 
much  larger  relative  increase  was  to  be  made  in  the  future. 
Isearl}'  three  thousand  miles  of  railroad  had  been  built  dur- 
ing these  ten  years,  costing  perhaps  $175,000,000,  and  adding 

712 


THE    DOMINION    IS    LAYINO    STRONG    FOUNDATIONS.  713 

as  much  to  the  value  of  lands  and  property  lying  near  them. 
Probably  the  increased  facilities  of  transportation  doubled 
the  capacity  of  the  people  to  produce  results. 

The  immediate  value  of  these  business  facilities  could  be 
realized  only  in  part  for  want  of  the  accustomed  ability  of 
markets  to  clear  themselves,  or  to  receive  on  the  same  scale 
as  formerly.  Financial  troubles  diminished  purchases  and 
sales  at  once.  Yet  a  slow  but  very  solid  improvement  went 
on  in  many  ways  not  readily  observable  at  the  first  general 
glance.  When  general  financial  pressure  should  be  removed 
it  would  become  apparent  that  the  Dominion  was  vastly  richer 
and  capable  of  a  much  greater  momentum  and  speed  of  pro- 
gress. The  United  Stateg  was  the  first  among  the  nations  to 
recover  from  this  depression,  and  the  real  progress  there  un- 
der an  apparent  decay  of  prosperity  became  immediately 
evident.  The  experience  of  Canada  must  be  similar  since  its 
natural  resources  are  similarly  great,  and  the  preparation  for 
realizing  them  was  perhaps  as  great  in  proportion  to  its  in- 
habitants and  means.  It  is  even  probable  that,  if  an  equally 
lively  state  of  business  activity  should  bring  into  full  use  all 
the  increased  facilities  for  production,  at  the  end  of  two  years 
of  such  prosperity  the  whole  realized  wealth  of  all  Canada 
would  be  found  equal  to  five  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 

This  would  certainly  place  Canada  on  a  comparative  level 
with  the  eminently  prosperous  Republic,  and  even  a  consid- 
able  per  cent  more.  She  has  no  vast  reserves  of  wealth,  but 
values  are  much  more  evenly  distributed.  She  has  few  pau- 
pers, few  unproductive  and  idle  classes,  few  large  cities  and 
manufacturing  centers  to  gather  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
operatives  who  make  a  bare  living  from  3'ear  to  year,  without 
power  to  improve  their  future.  Most  of  her  people  are  scat- 
tered over  her  vast  territory  as  agriculturists,  and,  if  they  re- 
alize but  a  moderately  comfortable  living  for  the  present,  their 
labor  continually  tends  to  prepare  a  better  one  for  the  future. 
Wealth,  or  capital,  is  better  distributed;  it  is  therefore  more 


714  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

profitably  employed  in  proportion  as  it  falls  into  the  hands  of 
a  large  number  of  small  proprietors,  who  employ  it  under 
their  own  eye,  and  apply  their  own  labor  and  thrifty  pru- 
dence to  its  increase. 

A  new  country  grows,  accumulates,  more  rapidly  in  pro- 
portion tlian  an  older  one.  Canada  may  hope  to  lessen  con- 
siderably the  great  sura  of  present  disproportion  between  her 
wealth  and  that  of  older  countries,  because  she  builds  chiefly 
on  new  foundations  and  increase  has  more  the  character  of 
a  creation  than  that  obtained  from  the  earnings  of  capital  in- 
vested. She  has  also  a  great  advantage  as  well  as  a  disad- 
vantage in  having  her  fairest,  most  populous  and  productive 
regions  separated  by  only  a  conventional  line  from  the  most 
prosperous  regions  of  the  United  States.  Institutions  and 
business  being  fairly  free  on  each  side  of  that  line,  and  the 
habits  and  character  of  the  people  similar  for  thrift,  enter- 
prise and  vigor,  prosperity  will  not  be  easily  confined  to  one 
side  of  it.  Business,  to  a  greater  extent  than  appears  at  first 
view,  sets  at  naught  International  Lines  and  Tariifs.  If 
these  prove  to  be  dams  that  prevent  a  free  flow  backward  and 
forward  to  a  certain  height,  when  activity  becomes  great  and 
prosperity  rises  high  on  one  side  it  flows  over  the  barriers  by 
a  necessary  law. 

Thus  conventional  law  finds  its  limit  of  power  very  much 
narrowed  by  the  action  of  natural  law.  Although  Canada  is, 
by  conventional  law  or  political  relations,  closely  connected 
with  England,  natural  law  or  business  relations  associate  it 
much  more  closely  with  the  United  States.  Its  imports  from 
the  Ilepul)lic,  in  1878,  exceeded  those  from  Great  Britain  by 
eleven  million  dollars.  Lumber  has  been  in  recent  years 
about  95  per  cent  of  the  exports  from  Canada  to  the  United 
States,  and,  in  the  years  1876-7-8  the  goods  entered  at  its 
custom  houses  for  consumption  from  the  United  States  ex- 
ceeded those  entered  from  Great  Britain  by  about  $30,000,000. 
All  this  was  in  the  face  of  high  tariifs  in  the  Republic,  and  the 


BUSINESS   OVER-RIDES    NATIONAL    BOUNDARIES.  715 

absence  of  such  cordial  commercial  relations  as  the  interests 
of  trade  in  each  country  demanded. 

The  interests  of  business  are  sometimes  made  secure  under 
international  laws,  treaties  and  courtesies  that  form  anew  and 
signifieuTit  feature  of  more  modern  national  intercourse. 
"While  yet  the  Pacific  Railway  between  the  Eastern  Provinces 
and  Manitoba  was  incomplete,  a  branch  of  that  future  system 
was  constructed  from  the  capital  of  Manitoba  southward,  and 
it  was  met  at  the  International  Boundary  by  an  American 
road  connected  with  the  general  system  of  the  United  States. 
This  again  was  in  connection  at  many  points  with  the  Cana- 
dian system.  A  system  of  bonding  regulations  for  goods  per- 
mitted continuous  transport  from  Canada  through  more  than 
a  thousand  miles  of  the  United  States  territory  to  Dominion 
soil  again  in  Manitoba.  So  also  one  of  the  longest  lines  of 
railway  in  Canada  has  a  western  terminus  in  Chicago  and  an 
eastern  in  Portland,  on  the  Atlantic;  and  the  railway  s^'stems 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada  are  adjusted  to  each  other 
so  as  to  promote  the  requirements  of  business  in  either 
country,  as  perfectly,  under  tariff  restrictions,  as  possible. 
All  this  has  continued  many  years,  has  led  to  very  intimate 
business  relations,  and  seems  sure  to  result,  sooner  or  later, 
in  commercial  interchanges  between  the  Republic  and  the 
Dominion  almost  as  free  as  those  between  the  diflerent  States 
of  the  former. 

The  bestmachinery  for  manufacturing  and  for  the  farm,  the 
most  intelligent  methods  and  the  most  convenient  implements 
of  agriculture  successfully  used  by  the  Anglo-Americans  very 
soon  find  their  way  into  Canada,  thus  establishing  real  reci- 
procity in  all  fields  of  progress,  intellectual  and  practical,  not 
immediately  related  to  political  affairs.  By  this  means  the 
powerfully  progressive  spirit  that  has  been  maturing  among 
Anglo-Americans  for  two  and  a  half  centuries  is  communi- 
cated much  more  completely  to  Canadians  than  to  European 
nations,  or  any  other  American  nation.     Retaining  English 


716  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

principles  and  methods  of"  government  they  are  highly  recep- 
tive of  the  business  principles  and  methods  of  Americans.  So 
the  tendencies  are  to  uniformity  with  the  United  States  in 
the  last  and  to  diversity  in  the  first.  Inspired  by  the  example 
and  success  of  their  neighbors,  as  well  as  possessing,  inherently, 
the  qualities  that  have  made  England  the  most  powerful 
country  of  the  nineteenth  century,  having  obtained  full  con- 
trol over  their  own  afl'airs  and  important  credit  with  English 
capitalists,  Canadians  have  addressed  themselves  to  the  task 
of  developing  a  new  country  witli  vigor,  skill,  and  a  very  real 
success. 

In  1868  the  total  commerce  of  the  Dominion  amounted  to 
something  more  than  $130,000,000.  Since  1870  it  has  aver- 
aged fully  $180,000,000 — sometimes  rising  much  above  $200,- 
OOU.OOO.  It  had  much  less  than  one-tenth  the  population  and 
wealth  of  the  Republic,  yet  its  commercial  business  has  been 
about  one-sixth  as  much.  Its  public  debt  is  now  about  one- 
twelfth  that  of  riie  Eep.ublic,  but  it  has  all  been  employed  in 
public  works,  most  of  those  tending  to  increase  the  business 
facilities  of  the  country,  so  that  the  expenditure  has  increased, 
by  several  times,  the  value  of  the  property  of  its  population 
and  the  annual  income  from  that  property.  The  wealth  it 
creates  can  well  afford  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  debt  and 
provide  a  sinking  fund  to  extinguish  it. 

A  small  nation,  widely  scattered,  with  agriculture  as  the 
occupation  of  the  mass  of  its  people,  it  is  the  fourth  in  rank 
among  the  nations  of  the  world  in  the  number  of  its  vessels 
and  capacity  of  its  merchant  marine— the  first  being  Eng- 
land, the  second  the  United  States,  and  the  third  France. 
With  so  good  a  start,  with  a  railway  connection  between  the 
two  oceans  and  through  the  richest  regions  of  its  vast  terri- 
tory to  be  developed  in  the  future,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  it  will  soon  reach,  and  ever  hold,  the  third  place 
ainoni:'  i-ommercial  nations.  Its  Eastern  Maritime  Provinces 
— so  near  Europe,  the  commercial  section  by  eminence  of  the 


THE    BUSINESS    WORLD    IS    A    KEPUBLIC    IN    ITSELF.  717 

United  States,  Eastern  South  America  and  the  West  Indies 
— its  mighty  River  and  long  line  of  Lakes,  giving  a  water 
route  half  way  across  the  continent — not  to  speak  of  Hud- 
son's Bay,  which  may  yet  become  of  great  importance  in 
commerce — and  British  Columbia  with  the  numerous  islands 
and  ports  on  the  coast — all  these  foreshadow  for  it  a  special 
eminence  as  a  commercial  country,  and  promise  many  markets 
for  all  its  various  productions  when  its  resources  are  fairly 
developed. 

It  is  also  to  be  considered  that  its  future  will  not  be  as 
dependent  on  its  own  resources  and  comparatively  small  and 
poor  population  as  was  the  United  States  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century.  The  world  of  business  has,  in  the  last 
thirty  years,  become,  in  a  large  degree,  a  republic  in  itself. 
It  has  a  constitution  and  laws  of  its  own  which  are  more  and 
more  fully  recognized  and  their  operation  assisted  and  pro- 
tected by  International  Law  and  by  numerous  Treaties  be- 
tween most  of  the  civilized  nations.  To  promote  a  world- 
wide business  activity  and  furnish  its  people  the  largest 
possible  Held  for  gain  under  the  best  possible  circumstances 
has  become  one  of  the  recognized  and  leading  duties  of 
national  governments. 

By  the  operation  of  these  laws  of  business,  the  accumula- 
tions of  capital  in  a  rich  country  are  employed  wherever  there 
is  the  surest  prospect  of  the  largest  gains.  That  region 
whose  resources  and  development  promise  most  on  invest- 
ments, or  open  the  way  best  to  world-wide  activities,  receives 
most  attention  and  aid  from  the  financial  world.  So  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  dollars  are  invested  in  railroads,  mines, 
lands  and  various  great  enterprises  in  the  United  States  by 
the  capitalists  of  Europe.  The  civilized  world,  in  many  ways 
and  to  an  important  degree,  has  come  to  the  aid  of  the  Re- 
public in  the  vast  undertaking  of  developing  its  resources, 
and  the  profit  resulting  has  not  remained  wholly  within  the 
region  and  country  so  aided.     Great  incomes  in  England,  in 


718  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

France,  and  other  countries  are  derived  from  property 
in  the  United  States,  directly  or  indirectly. 

After  a  time  growth  will  become  comparatively  or  appar- 
ently slower  in  this  favored  country,  gains  on  a  given  invest- 
ment in  a  given  time  will  be  less;  business  will  take  a  wider 
sweep  and  require  additional  fields  to  open  and  facilities  for 
still  greater  operations.  Canada  will,  by  and  by,  receive  a 
considerable  share  of  the  attention  and  aid  that  is  now  so 
largely  concentrated  on  the  vast  territories  and  multitudinous 
resources  of  its  great  neighbor.  The  valleys  of  the  Red  River, 
of  the  Saskatchewan,  of  the  Peace,  of  the  Thompson,  the 
Frazer  and  the  Columbia  will  offer  attractions  similar  to 
those  of  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri  and  of  Cali- 
fornia. Wheat  furnishes  the  best  food  to  the  largest  number 
of  the  human  race  and  the  fertile  areas  of  the  world  where  it 
can  be  permanently  cultivated  with  more  profit  and  greater 
certainty  than  other  food  plants  are  limited.  The  deep  rich 
soil  and  cool  climate  of  these  parts  of  the  Dominion  will 
become  the  world's  greatest  and  most  reliable  granary  and 
cultivators,  capital  for  development  and  transportation  facili- 
ties will  flow  there  from  all  parts  of  the  world  in  abundance 
almost  without  limit  in  due  time.  Cattle  will  cover  the  vast 
prairies  and  mountain  plateaus  to  be  shipped  to  Europe  and 
Asia;  the  product  of  the  mines  of  precious  metals  will  rise 
from  its  present  annual  three  millions  to  fifty  or  eighty  mil- 
lions; its  splendid  forests  will  furnish  lumber  to  distant 
countries;  and  the  present  large  hopes  and  anticipations  of 
its  statesmen  and  economists  will  be  realized  as  fully  as  those 
of  earlier  generations  of  Americans  are  being  realized  now, 
or  secured  for  a  very  near  future. 

Its  inhabitants,  descendants  of  the  economizing  French, 
the  thrifty  Scotch,  the  bold  and  enterprising  English  and 
hopeful  Irish  furnish  a  suitable  basis  of  character  and  capacity 
on  which  to  build  a  great,  vigorous  and  intelligent  national 
development.     Their  Government  will   be  wise  and  strong 


THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    COMING    YEARS.  719 

enough  to  promote  and  protect  all  the  interests  that  may  be 
attracted  to  them,  to  maintain  political  freedom  and  social 
order.  The  overpowering  greatness  of  the  United  States,  the 
preference  of  European  emigrants  for  it  as  yet,  its  more 
genial  climate  and  compact  as  well  as  boundless  resources, 
seem  to  throw  Canada  and  its  expectations  into  the  shade. 
The  large  future  its  people  foresee  seems  to  the  American 
almost  ridiculous.  He  can  discover  hope  for  it  only  in  be- 
coming an  appendage  of  his  great  and  prosperous  Union. 
Yet  his  own  anticipations  of  what  he  has  already  realized 
seemed  as  futile  and  as  distant  to  the  citizens  of  a  great 
European  monarchy  fifty  years  ago.  The  American  has  three 
times  virtually  invited  Canada  to  cast  in  her  lot  with  him, 
and  Canada  as  often  declined,  preferring  a  political  future  of 
her  own. 

The  more  her  territory  is  studied  the  larger  and  richer  ap- 
pear its  undeveloped  resources.  They  are  certainly  immense, 
and  practically  inexhaustible.  If  Canada  wants  many  of  the 
peculiar  advantages  of  the  United  States  it  has  many  others 
of  its  own,  and  its  treasures  are  being  ])nt  in  the  way  of  de- 
velopment by  capital  and  all  the  latest  instruments  of  pro- 
gress wliicli  the  Republic  itself  has  but  lately  obtained. 
Apparently,  the  period  of  rapid  expansion  is  approaching  for 
Canada.  Immigration  to  Canada  rose  by  steady  annual  in- 
crease from  10,000  in  1S66  to  50,000  in  1873.  Since  that  year 
it  has  averaged  about  30,000  annually,  or  not  far  from  400,000 
in  fourteen  years.  Another  decade  is  very  likely  to  inti-oduce 
a  million  Europeans  and  more  or  less  Americans.  Then  ev- 
ery section  of  the  Dominion  will  have  its  railroad  system 
tributary  to  the  trans-continental  trunk  line,  and  the  various 
water  routes  of  the  east.  A  massive  development  may  be 
supposed  to  have  fairly  set  in  by  that  time — at  least  its  begin- 
nings will  have  become  general — the  population  increased 
to  seven  millions,  perhaps,  and  the  aggregate  ^\  ealth  of  the 
Dominion  should  have  risen  to  ten  thousand   millions,  with 


720  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA. 

beginnings  of  rich  future  increase  appearing  in  all  directions. 
Should  commercial  free  trade  have  been  inaugurated  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States  for  a  few  years  these  figures 
may  be  exceeded.  By  that  time  the  great  public  debt  result- 
ing from  the  Civil  War  will  have  been  so  greatly  reduced 
that  the  Republic  could  probably  afford  to  renounce  its  heavy 
import  tariff  especially  in  favor  of  its  near  northern  neigh- 
bor. 

By  the  close  of  the  century  there  should  be  ten  million  in- 
habitants in  Canada,  its  wealth  of  1890  should  have  doubled, 
its  trade  and  commerce  have  become  proportionately  large, 
and  its  fertile  sections  well  cultivated  and  smiling  in  plenty. 
The  Dominion  has  certainly  a  great  and  prosperous  future 
before  her. 


ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER  lY. 

THE    BRITISH    ISLANDS    AND    THEIR     PEOPLE. 

Great  Britain,  accoi'ding  to  the  accredited  statistics  and 
estimates  available  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  ISSO,  had  the 
largest  amount  of  realized  wealth  of  any  country  in  the  world. 
It  has  the  largest  marine  tonnage,  the  most  valuable  com- 
merce, the  most  extensive  manufactures,  by  far,  of  any  nation 
of  any  time  in  the  world's  history.  The  Government  and 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  extend  a  more  regular  and  pow- 
erful influence  over  a  larger  area  of  the  earth's  surface  than 
any  other  government  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  Chi- 
nese Empire  counts  a  much  larger  number  of  subjects;  yet 
the  policy  and  decisions  of  the  English  ministry  exert  a  far 
more  efiective  influence  on  the  mass  of  individuals  of  the  hu- 
man race  than  the  Council  of  the  Chinese  Emperor. 

Yet  this  foremost  country  of  modern  times  has  a  small  base 
for  such  a  magnificent  superstructure,  so  far  as  it  is  to  be 
counted  in  square  miles.  The  "  Home  Country,"  or  Great 
Britain,  as  distinguished  from  the  foreign  possessions  of  the 
British  Empire,  is  composed  chiefly  of  the  two  islands  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Several  small  islands  and  groups 
of  islands,  of  less  than  400  square  miles  in  surface  altogether, 
lying  near  it  are  usually  counted  in.  The  largest  island  con- 
tains England,  Scotland  and  Wales.  The  whole  surface  of 
this  island  is  a  little  smaller  than  the  two  States  of  Illinois 
and  Iowa.  Ireland  is  not  quite  as  large  as  the  State  of 
Indiana.  Illinois  is  about  as  much  larger  than  England 
46  721 


722  ENGLAND. 

as  New  York  is  smaller;  the  diftereiice  in  each  case  being 
about  -1:,000  square  miles.  Wales  is  about  the  size  of  Massa- 
clmsetts,  Scotlaiul  is  a  little  larger  than  Massachusetts,  Ver- 
mont and  New  Hampshire  united. 

Wales  has  about  one  and  a  half  million  inhabitants,  Scotland 
about  three  and  a  half  millions,  Ireland  some  five  and  a  half 
millions,  and  England  about  twenty-two  millions.  Thus  Eng- 
land, which  has  much  less  than  half  the  surface,  contains 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  population.  Wales  is  extremely 
mountainous,  Scotland  lies  far  to  the  north,  and  its  northern 
regions  are  also  mountainous.  They  are  called  "  The  High- 
lands," and  are  cold,  wet  and  sterile  compared  with  England. 
Ireland  is  very  much  broken  into  elevations  and  rocky  ridges, 
the  center  being  a  shallow  basin,  with  the  principal  elevations 
on  the  borders.  England  is  also  uneven,  and  in  some  parts 
even  mountainous,  yet  it  is,  for  the  most  part,  fitted  for  agri- 
culture and  very  fertile. 

The  British  Islands  are  in  a  high  latitude.  The  southern  ex- 
tremity of  England  reaches  only  to  the  fiftieth  parallel  of  north 
latitude.  All  the  eastern  Provinces  of  the  Dominion  of  Can- 
ada lie  south  of  this  line  except  the  extreme  northwestern 
part  of  Quebec  bordering  on  Labrador.  The  larger  part  of 
Manitoba  is  also  south  of  that  parallel,  and  the  Peace  River 
Valley  of  the  far  northwest  is  in  the  latitude  of  Scotland. 
The  climate  of  Great  Britain  is  modified  by  the  Gulf  Stream, 
a  warm  ocean  current,  which,  flowing  out  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  northeastward,  is  turned  across  the  Atlantic  toward 
Europe  by  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland,  the  British  Isles 
lying  on  its  track  as  it  approaches  the  eastei-n  continent.  It 
produces  a  warm  current  of  air  laden  with  the  moisture 
which  they  give  forth  in  a  very  abi;ndant  rain-fall,  espe- 
cially over  Ireland,  Scotland  and  the  west  of  England  and 
Wales. 

A  ridge  or  watershed,  runs  through  England  and  Scotland, 
the  larger  part  of  England  lying  east  of  it.     The  cool  heights 


THE    SURFACE    AND    GEOLOGY    OF    THE    BRITISH    ISLANDS.    723 

of  tliis  ridge,  soinetimes  rising  several  thousand  feet,  arrest 
tlie  clouds  and  wring  much  of  their  excessive  moisture  from 
tliem,  leaving  a  large  part  of  England,  which  lies  east  and 
southeast  of  this  ridge,  moderately  watered  while  tempered 
in  climate  by  the  warm  winds.  The  principal  embarrassment 
to  agriculture  in  tlie  United  Kingdom  (as  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  are  called),  is  frmn  excessively  wet  seasons.  Some- 
times several  follow  in  succession,  which  produces  great  dis- 
aster and  for  the  time  disti'ess.  Yet  exlremeiy  favorable  sea- 
sons are  usually  found  to  follow,  so  tiiat  tiie  average  is  highly 
favorable  to  abundant  crops. 

These  islands  had  a  long  and  eventful  geological  history. 
Although  they  are  separated  from  the  continent  of  Europe 
by  the  North  Sea,  the  Straits  of  Dover,  and  the  British  clian- 
nel  they  rest  on  a  submarine  plateau  nowhere  more  than  three 
liiindred  feet  beneath  the  sea  level.  A  small  elevation  would 
make  this  whole  plateau  and  all  the  islands  a  part  of  the  con- 
tinent, as  they  iiave  actually  been  at  some  geological  periods. 
Constant,  but  gradual,  clianges  of  level  over  the  islands 
through  almost  all  geological  time  have  developed  nearly  all 
the  various  rock  formations  and  the  remains  of  animal  and 
vegetable  life  cliaracteristic  of  each  period.  The  distnrbance 
of  these  strata  by  volcanic  forces  has  turned  them  up  to  the 
study  of  modern  science  and  placed  the  valuable  economic 
deposits  of  eacii  witiiin  tiie  reach  of  enterprising  industry. 
The  mineral  resources  of  England  were  extraordinarily  rich 
and  well  located.  Coal  is  one  of  the  chief  of  these.  It  un- 
derlaid about  14,001)  square  miles,  often  in  extremely  thick 
seams  and  of  the  best  quality.  An  abundance  of  iron  ore 
was  also  developed,  especially  in  connection  with  the  coal. 
Iron  is  often  found  in  the  rock  formed  between  the  layers  of 
coal.  It  was  of  good  quality  for  all  common  uses,  and,  being 
on  the  spot  where  suitable  coal  for  reducing  it  abounded, 
might  be  worked  at  the  least  possible  expense. 

Various    other    minerals    and    valuable     buildinsr    rocks 


724 


ENGLAND. 


abounded.  Great  activity  in  rock  making  was  displayed 
in  most  of  the  Geological  Periods  and  a  profusion  of  animal 
and  vegetable  life  enriched  the  rocks  with  materials  fo; 
future  soil.  There  was  also  much  activity  of  volcanic  forces 
Volcanos,  or  deep  clefts  in  the  rocks,  poured  out  vast  quanti- 
ties of  lava  at  some  periods  which  enriched  the  soil  in  the 
long  course  of  ages  witli  various  chemical  combinations  en- 
tering into  the  structure  of  plants.  The  surface  rocks  were 
finally — after  all  these  treasures  were  collected  and  the  struc- 
tural work  of  Geological  Time  was  completed — worn  and 
ground  fine  by  the  powerful  ice  floe  and  glaciers  of  the 
Glacial  Period  and  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  country. 

The  materials  froni  which  man  was  to  produce  wealth  were 
more  abundantly  stored  in  England  than  elsewhere  in  these 
islands.  The  more  level  parts  of  Scotland,  called  The  Low- 
lands, constituting  tlie  southern  portion  of  that  former  king- 
dom, were  verv  similar  to  England.  "Wales  and  the  rutrsed 
West  of  England  were  rich  in  mineral  deposits.  Ireland  was 
supplied  with  a  good  soil  but  less  abundantly  with  minerals. 
It  seems  probable  that  there  was  more  than  one  Glacial 
Period  in  Europe  and  Great  Britain,  and  that  man  appeared 
before  the  last  one  came  on,  before  which  he  must  have  per- 
ished or  retired.  But  he  came  back  again  very  soon,  and 
before  the  various  changes  of  level  followins:  in  the  Cham- 
plain  and  Terrace  Epochs  ceased.  Traces  of  his  remains  and 
works  are  found  in  ancient  caves  in  company  with  those  of 
the  great  and  fierce  animals  of  an  early  time  and  he  seems  to 
have  been  only  less  wild  and  rude  than  they,  yet  with  a 
capacity  of  improvement  very  distinctly  marked  in  the  traces 
he  left  behind  in  the  long  ages  that  followed  before  the  open- 
ing of  the  historic  period. 

He  was  still  comparatively  a  savage  when  first  visited  by 
the  Romans  just  before  the  Christian  Era  although  far  in 
advance  of  the  primitive  rudeness.  The  inhabitants  of  that 
time  were  Celts,  of  the  same  race  and  origin  as  the  inhabit- 


THE    ANGLES    AND    SAXONS    SETTLE    IN    ENGLAND.  725 

ants  of  the  southern  part  of  the  neighboring  continent. 
These  are  believed  to  have  migrated  from  Central  Asia  in  a 
far  off  time  as  conquerors  of  still  more  ancient  races,  whose 
origin  can  not  be  clearly  made  out,  though  it  is  believed  by 
many  that  they  also  found  their  way  here  from  the  plateau  of 
Central  Asia. 

The  Romans  occupied  the  southern  part  of  the  larger  island, 
now  England,  for  several  hundred  years,  introducing  their  laws 
and  civilization,  making  roads  and  building  cities.  Tiie  traces 
of  their  occupation  are  numerous,  often  very  marked  and  in- 
teresting. When  the  Roman  Empire  began  to  crumble  un- 
der internal  weakness  and  the  attacks  of  northern  barbarians 
the  legions  were  withdrawn  from  Britain  and  the  natives, 
now  considerably  civilized  and  christianized,  were  left  to 
themselves.  They  had  lost  the  habits  of  self-rule  and  much 
of  the  fierce  bravery  that  had  belonged  to  them  before  the 
Roman  conquest.  They  fell  into  disorder  and  rival  leaders 
quarreled.  Tiie  weaker  party  invited  the  assistance  of  Hen- 
gist  and  Horsa,  chiefs  of  war  parties  of  the  Saxons,  who  lived 
in  the  northern  part  of  Germany.  The  Angles  and  the  Sax- 
ons were  German  tribes,  rude,  restless  and  warlike,  yet  by  no 
means  wanting  in  the  primitive  elements  of  a  vigorous  civil- 
ization. 

These  German  troops  gave  the  required  aid  to  their  em- 
ployers, liked  the  land  and  found  pretexts  for  remaining. 
The  Britons  were  unable  to  expel  them.  Centuries  of  fight- 
ing followed.  The  Angles  and  Saxons  settled  in  separate 
colonies,  or  tribes  under  military  leaders  on  various  parts  of 
the  eastern  and  southern  coast,  bringing  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, their  flocks  and  herds,  their  national  institutions  and 
laws.  Each  formed  a  little  state  with  a  king  at  its  head  who 
ruled  by  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  freemen  of  the  com- 
munity. There  was  no  strict  definition  of  powers  and  duties 
but  the  king  was  essentially  at  first  a  leader  among  equals, 
appointed  to  execute  the  will  of  the  general  body  of  the  tribe 


726  ENGLAND. 

or  small  kingdom.  The  general  welfare  of  the  whole  commu- 
nity was  looked  after  and  its  will  expressed  by  its  wise  men — its 
mature,  experienced  and  capable  citizens — assembled  in  coun- 
cil. This  body  was  called  the  "  Witan-agemot " — the  As- 
sembly of  the  Wise.  Properly  it  embraced,  or  might  eml^race, 
all  the  mature  male  citizens,  whose  relative  weight  in  it  de- 
pended on  the  greater  or  less  extent  of  their  wisdom  accord- 
ing to  the  standard  of  tiiat  time. 

Essential  equality  of  liberties  and  rights  lay  at  the  heart  of 
these  institutions  as  they  had  developed  in  the  German  for- 
ests. They  were  based  on  the  strong  individuality,  the 
tendency  to  vigorous  self-assertion,  of  the  man.  Tliis  quality 
in  the  North  American  Indian  made  combinations  to  form  a 
strong  government  impossible,  because,  in  them,  individual 
will  was  stronger  than  the  combined  intelligence  of  the  com- 
munity. In  these  German  tribes  intelligence  and  will  were 
developed  in  harmony;  thought  could  control  instinct,  could 
see  the  true  value  of  union  and  determine  the  individual  to 
make  such  concessions  of  his  own  will  as  would  secure  the 
greater  advantages  and  power  resulting  from  the  vigorous 
exercise  of  the  coml)ined  force  of  the  community.  Most 
communities,  in  an  early  stage  of  development,  have  been 
found  incapable  of  a  self-control  and  intelligence  sufficient  to 
produce  moderation.  When  they  began  to  yield  thej'  lost  the 
power  of  resistance  to  resolute  rulers;  submission  toawill  not 
their  own  became  a  habit  and  their  government  a  despotism. 

This  was  never  the  case  with  the  Anglo-Saxons  in  any 
proper  sense,  at  least;  if  dormant  for  a  time  it  remained  a 
strong  vital  force  for  more  favorable  opportunities.  For 
some  centuries  after  they  settled  in  England  they  were  almost 
constantly  at  war  with  the  native  Britons,  or  Celtic  inhabi- 
tants; then  the  small  kingdoms  grew  and  crowded  on  each 
other,  which  led  to  war  among  themselves,  followed  by  inva- 
sions of  other  Teutonic  tribes  from  the  neighlxjrhood  of  their 
old  homes  on  the  continent.     These  were  leadine;  features  in 


f 


THE  NORMAN  RULE  IN  ENGLAND.  727 

their  liistory  until  the  Normans  finally  defeated  their  native 
army  and  king,  and  took  firm  possession  of  the  government. 
The  king,  from  the  first,  represented  the  community,  and  was 
their  natural  leader  in  war.  This  almost  uninterrupted  series 
of  wars  gradually  accustomed  king  and  people  to  a  more 
concentrated  and  independent  use  of  power  by  the  king  and 
his  officers  than  their  institutions  and  early  habits  contem- 
plated; yet  the  strong  instinct  of  the  race  maintained  the  old 
forms  in  a  general  way,  and  such  restraints  on  arbitrary 
power  as  the  disturbances  of  the  times  permitted.  In  the 
course  of  centuries  many  changes  passed  over  the  country  and 
afforded  gi-eat  opportunities  to  ambitious  princes;  yet  they 
were  never  permitted  to  feel  themselves  really  above  restraint. 
The  Norman  kings  were  vigorous  and  ambitious,  and  long 
held  rule  over  great  territories  on  the  continent,  which  in- 
creased their  power,  and  their  tendency  to  disregard  ancient 
English  customs  and  liberties;  but  with  this  des])otic  tend- 
ency in  the  king  the  resistance  of  the  English  increased. 
At  intervals  the  kings  were  required  to  recognize  and  legalize 
afresh  the  ancient  rights  and  liberties  of  the  nation,  and 
there  was  always  a  system  of  local  government  in  the  towns 
and  shires  that  preserved  the  mass  of  the  people  from  more 
or  less  of  the  severities  of  arbitrary  power. 

The  Feudal  System  was  approaching  its  full  development 
when  the  Norman  Conquest  occurred  in  1066.  This  system 
tended  to  accumulate  power  in  the  hands  of  the  nobles.  The 
people  were  always  left  out  of  account,  and  the  king  had 
little  more  than  nominal  authority.  But  the  ancient  spirit 
was  still  strong  in  the  English  people,  and  the  king  favored 
them  in  order  to  get  support  against  the  nobles.  When,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  kina:  became  too  strong  for  the  nobles 
they  courted  the  people  for  a  similar  reason.  Out  of  this 
rivalry  rose  the  "  Magna  Charta,"  a  written  definition  of  the 
ancient  rights  and  liberties  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  exacted 
from   the  king  by  the  nobles.     The  English   nobility  have 


728  ENGLAND. 

always  been  more  patriotic  than  those  of  any  other  coun- 
try, and  that  has  ever  secured  them  so  miich  respect  and  love 
from  the  people  that  they  have  in  recent  times  maintained  an 
unexampled  influence  in  Great  Britain. 

When  the  Feudal  System  broke  up  and  the  modern  period 
began  to  dawn,  kings,  as  the  representatives  of  nationality, 
received  much  of  the  power  that  had  been  possessed  by  the 
feudal  lords,  and  the  tendency  to  despotism  was  strong.  In 
England  the  nobility  and  gentry  were  often  on  the  side  of 
liberty.  A  part  of  them,  at  least,  placed  themselves  on  the 
side  of  the  people  at  large.  The  peculiar  organization  of 
the  higher  classes  contributed  much,  during  several  centuries 
previous  to  the  seventeenth,  to  secure  the  ultimate  ascendency 
of  the  body  of  the  people  in  the  conduct  of  the  Government. 
This  did  not  include  anything  like  a  really  popular  or  formal 
representation  till  some  time  after  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  but  was  sufficiently  satisfactory  to  keep  down 
extreme  general  discontent  and  maintain  constant  progress 
in  a  liberal  direction.  This  end  was  secured  by  the  legal 
classification  of  all  the  descendants  of  noble  families  not  rep- 
resenting those  families  as  their  head  by  special  title  as 
Commons. 

All  the  children  of  a  titled  nobleman,  or  peer,  were  legally 
classed  as  Commons.  No  one  except  the  elder  son,  or  the 
direct  male  heir,  could  rise  out  of  the  ranks  of  the  Commons- 
but  by  special  exertion  of  the  royal  authority  in  creating  him 
a  peer.  These  Common-s  represented  the  primitive  freemen. 
All,  originally,  had  the  right  to  sit  in  the  Witan-agemot.  As 
numbers  increased  this  became  impossible  and  undesirable. 
Then  their  representatives  were  chosen  in  the  shires,  or  smaller 
divisions  constituted  for  local  government,  by  their  equals,  or 
by  local  oflicers,  or  were  specially  called  to  sit  in  council  by  the 
king.  When  organization  became  more  precise,  by  laws  care- 
fully defined,  they  were  elected  1)y  those  classes  of  the  peojjle 
recognized  as  Commons.     These  comprised,  in  general,  the 


PARLIAMENT    EEALLY    DIRECTS    THE    GOVERNMENT.  729 

property-owners  of  the  country  as  distinguislied  from  the 
peasantry,  or  lowest  laboring  classes  without  property. 
About  three  hundred  years  after  the  Norman  Conquest  these 
representatives  of  the  intelligence  and  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try at  large  began  to  sit  in  a  separate  place,  and  transact 
business  apart  from  the  nobles  or  lords,  who  were,  at  first, 
considered  as  the  especial  councilors  of  the  king,  but  finally 
became  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  law-making  power. 

These  branches  were  at  length  called  a  Parliament — that 
is,  a  talking  body — or  one  which  the  king  talked  with  or  con- 
sulted, as  to  the  public  welfare.  Tlie  king  was  always  held 
as  the  emi:)odiment  or  representative  of  tlie  nation,  and  all 
the  business  of  Parliament  was  done  in  his  name.  The 
power  of  the  king  to  make  laws  alone  was  never  formally  ad- 
mitted, although  it  was  clearly  deiined  only  in  the  really 
modern  period.  Arbitrary  action  without  consent  of  Parlia- 
ment was  more  and  more  persistently  resisted,  until  the  obsti- 
nate Charles  I.  was  opposed  by  an  army  raised  by  Parliament, 
his  partisans  completely  defeated  and  he  beheaded.  The 
attachment  of  the  people  to  their  ancient  forms  was  too 
strong,  however,  to  permit  the  definite  establishment  of  the 
different  mode  of  government  adopted  for  a  time,  and  they, 
after  the  death  of  Cromwell,  recalled  the  son  of  the  sov- 
ereign they  had  deposed  and  executed. 

The  Parliament,  however,  was  still  unable  to  exert  the 
desired  control  over  the  government,  and  less  than  tliirty 
years  after  the  death  of  Charles  I.  another  revolution  deposed 
the  i-eigning  sovereign,  and  Parliament  elected  another  under 
such  conditions  that  it  could  be  sure  of  gaining  its  ends  in 
all  future  time.  Under  the  name  and  forms  of  a  monarchy 
the  country  now  came  to  be  really  governed  by  the  Parlia- 
ment. The  acting:  Privv  Council,  or  Ministrv,  of  the  Sover- 
eign  performed  all  executive  acts  and  contri)lled  him  by 
their  "  advice''  in  such  as  were  legislative  or  judicial.  The 
ministers  were  •' responsible"  to   Parliament,  and  must  lay 


730  ENGLAND. 

down  office  whenever  tlieir  proposed  measures  failed  of  its 
approval. 

Thus,  after  the  lapse  of  fourteen  hundred  years,  the  sub- 
stantial features  of  the  Primitive  Teutonic,  or  Anglo-Saxon, 
political  organization  were  fairly  unfolded  in  the  midst  of  an 
elaljorate  civilization.  The  English  people  held  most  tena- 
ciously, in  the  long  run,  to  the  principle  of  individual 
liberty.  Yet  this  claim  was  asserted  with  general  moderation, 
and  often  permitted  to  lie  dormant.  Temporary  need  of 
strong  organization  was  recognized,  and  often  seemed  to  en- 
danger the  ancient  liberties  of  the  people  by  permitting  the 
exercise  of  arbitrary  power  which  constantly  sought  pretexts 
and  means  to  jierpetuate  and  extend  itself.  Despotisms  of 
many  forms  and  degrees  often  became  strongly  intrenched  in 
the  political  or  social  structure  during  rude  and  changeful 
times,  when  they  seemed  the  only  available  bulwarks  against 
greater  dangers.  When  the  danger  was  quite  past  the  rulers 
fought  hard  for  the  extra  powers.  In  the  end  this  was 
defeated  by  the  people.  The  race  was  incomparably  bold  and 
brave  and  inclined  in  all  ages  to  maintain  a  position  once  fully 
taken  at  all  risks.  Yet,  beside  this  indomitable  quality  was  the 
other  of  moderation,  arising  partly  from  tolerance  and  partly 
from  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  situation.  Good 
sense  and  self-restraint,  or  sometimes  endurance,  have  been 
as  prominent  in  English  history  as  tierce  resolution  and  a 
valor  so  excessive  as  often  to  lead  to  brutal  acts.  The  two 
went  together  as  indispensable  elements  of  the  strongest  man- 
liness. They  were  not  alwaj's  well  tempered  ;  indeed,  there 
was  almost  always  more  or  less  error,  now  on  this  side,  now 
on  that.  Valor  often  became  ferocity  and  moderation  too 
great  submission,  or  resistance  to  the  correction  of  errors. 
The  persistence  of  strong  characters  was  tfften  displayed  in 
the  wrong  place  and  English  reformers  have  had  to  fight  long 
and  hard. 

But,  on  the  whole,  the  prime  and  most  valuable   qualities 


THE    HIGH    QUALITIES   OF   THE    ANGLO-SAXON.  731 

of  manhood  were  iiiliereiit  in  the  Anglo-Saxon.  With  in- 
comparable energy  and  force  of  will  to  secure  his  own  rights, 
as  he  conceived  them,  was  joined  a  sense  of  justice  and  hu- 
manity sucli  as  to  render  him  easily  capable  of  the  highest 
and  most  benevolent  civilization.  His  "  heart  of  oak"  is  true 
to  the  perceptions  of  his  intelligence  and  will  take  the 
highest  ]iolish  ;  his  character  is  steel  of  the  best  temper  and 
will  receive  and  hold  the  keenest  edge.  In  history  he  has 
been  not  so  much  a  conqueror  as  an  ardent  advocate  of  his 
own  interests  and  defender  of  his  own  rights.  He  hasalways 
been  ready  to  fight  when  opposed  on  these  points,  but  had 
too  much  practical  sense  to  love  fame  or  power  for  their  own 
sake.  He  has  displayed  in  all  times  a  degree  of  mental  and 
moral  balance  rare  among  nations,  and  very  rare  with  so 
much  vigor  of  character  and  intensity  of  life.  Impetuosity 
and  strength  in  him  are  restrained,  and  are  much  more  effec- 
tive for  the  restraint.  His  measure  of  reserved  force  is  very 
great. 


CHAPTER  V. 


MODERN    ENGLAND. 


With  such  qualities,  and  such  a  history  as  have  been 
glanced  at  in  the  previous  chapter,  it  is  not  strange  that  this 
])eople  should  lead  the  world  when  modern  facilities  of  action 
opened  all  regions  to  mutual  intercourse.  For  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after  the  discovery  of  America  they  were 
wholly  occu])ied  with  domestic  disturbances  arising  from 
rival  claims  to  the  throne  or  from  religious  conflicts.  Enter- 
prising men  took  part  in  the  work  of  discovery,  but  no  con- 
siderable part  of  the  people  were  ready  to  enter  the  openings 
presented.  Religious  and  dynastic  conflicts  had  first  to  be 
settled.  During  the  seventeentli  century  constitutional  ques- 
tions were  foremost  and  the  kings  and  people  were  engaged 
in  a  deadly  struggle.  This  was  closed  in  1688  by  the  definite 
success  of  the  jieople.  Henceforth  there  were  only  minor 
questions  of  adjustment  that  would  settle  themselves,  in 
time,  and  the  people  and  Government  began  to  prepare  for 
the  great  commercial  career  opened  to  them  by  universal  dis- 
covery. 

During  the  troubled  times  preceding  the  breaking  out  of 
civil  war  between  the  King  and  the  Parliament  many  thou- 
sand people  emigrated  to  America  for  greater  liberty  to  fol- 
low their  own  convictions  and  to  find  a  more  promising  field 
of  activity.  During  the  civil  commotions  terminating  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  seventeentli  century  they  slowly  in- 
creased and  prospered,  laying  the  bases  of  a  new  and  more 
liberally  organized  state,  and  contributing  materially  by  their 
trade  to  the  commercial  development  and  prosperity  of  the 
Mother  Country.  England  also  was  slowly  gathering  her 
resources  and  energies  for  future  expansion. 

733 


THE    COLONIES    AND    COLONIAL    POLICY.  733 

Although  England  had  a  considerable  conimerce  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  which  increased  rapidly  during  the 
eighteenth,  she  had  been  essentially  an  agricultural  country 
up  to  nearly  the  close  of  the  latter  period.  Holland  was  the 
leading  commercial  country  during  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries.  In  the  eighteenth  England  took  the  lead, 
very  decidedly.  Her  people  showed  a  capacity  for  adapting 
themselves  to  foreign  countries  without  losing  their  vigor, 
and  the  Government  displayed  skill  and  good  sense  in  man- 
aging the  colonies  after  they  had  been  acquired.  They  were 
gained  principally,  except  the  Thirteen  American  colonies, 
np  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  by  conquest  during 
various  wars  with  European  and  other  powers.  Perhaps  the 
resolution  and  warlike  tenacity  of  the  race  had  even  more  to 
do  with  the  gradual  extension  of  the  colonies  than  tact  or 
good  sense  or  lust  of  conquest.  It  was  certainly  by  sustained 
vigor  that  they  were  held  after  being  once  acquired,  and  the 
lesson  of  conciliatory  treatment  given  by  the  loss  of  the 
American  colonies  was  deeply  laid  to  heart. 

Long  before  the  studies  and  experiences  of  modern  times 
had  taught  European  statesmen  the  true  theory  of  coloniza- 
tion and  commei'ce  England  had  acted  with  instinctive  and 
characteristic  liberality  toward  her  foreign  possessions.  They 
were  held,  and  often  maintained  at  considerable  cost,  for  their 
commercial  value  to  the  English  people.  They  were  not 
expected  to  enrich  the  treasury  of  the  Home  Government  in 
any  other  way.  The  loss  of  the  American  colonies  was 
caused  by  the  attempt  to  raise  a  revenue  from  them  to  reim- 
burse to  the  Home  Treasury  the  money  spent  in  armaments 
and  wars  for  their  protection.  This  was  a  departure  from 
traditional  policy  and  in  violation  of  rights  established  by 
the  English  people  in  contest  with  their  kings  and  always 
tenaciously  maintained  by  them.  The  principle  was  too  well 
recognized  in  England,  and  Englishmen  in  the  colonies  had 
too  much  of  the  bold  and   resolute  spirit  of  their  race,  for 


734  ENGLAND. 

such  a  departure  frum  the  constitutional  precedents  of  the 
of  the  country  to  succeed. 

The  colonies  now  the  United  States  of  America,  became 
another  England,  still  more  progressive,  in  some  ways,  and 
not  less  active.  They  received  and  moulded  into  their  own 
spirit  millions  of  immigrants  of  other  nationalities.  Their 
rapid  development  of  the  vast  resources  of  the  New  World 
and  growing  wealth  made  them  much  more  valuable  to  Eng- 
land as  an  independent  nation  than  they  could  have  been  as 
dependent  colonies,  and  the  Mother  Country  grew  rich,  as 
they  developed,  from  trade  with  them. 

When  the  nineteenth  century  opened  England  was  engaged 
in  a  desperate  war  with  Napoleon,  the  Imperial  Genius  of 
the  French,  as  regenerated  by  the  Revolution  ten  years  be- 
fore, for  the  commercial  supremacy  in  Europe.  She  was  suc- 
cessful and  came  out,  in  1815,  the  foremost  nation  of  modern 
times  in  political  influence  and  naaterial  power.  She  was 
"  Mistress  of  the  Seas,"  had  acquired  possession  of  India, 
numerous  islands  in  the  West  and  East  Indies, had  numerous 
possessions  in  Africa,  America,  Asia  and  Australia.  She  was 
at  the  threshold  of  her  imperial  career.  For  the  last  hun- 
dred years  commerce  had  stimulated  manufactures  ever  more 
and  more.  Invention  had  produced  the  steam  engine  and 
various  manufacturing  machinery.  An  American  had  in- 
vented the  Cotton  Gin,  and  that  country  could  supply  any 
desirable  quantity  of  raw  cotton  for  textile  fabrics.  Eiig- 
land's  vast  trade  (for  those  times)  and  the  wealth  of  the  East 
Indies  had  accumulated  abundance  of  capital  and  her  expan- 
sion was  almost  as  wonderful  and  rapid  as  that  of  the  Ameri- 
can Republic. 

In  1800  England  had  about  8,000.000  people,  and  all  the 
British  Islands  about  12,000,000.  The  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple were  still  largely  agricultural  and  the  most  valuable  part 
of  the  productive  population  was  the  yeomanry,  or  small 
farmers.     But  commerce,  trade,  and  a  twenty  years'  war  had 


ENGLAND  BEGINS  HER  GREAT  CAREER.         735 

laid  the  foundation  for  future  changes.  Manufactures  were 
already  beginning  to  develop  on  a  scale  before  unknown  iu 
any  country,  and  gradually  the  whole  state  of  the  country 
underwent  an  astonishing  change.  Large  towns  sprung  up, 
machinery  multiplied  the  possibility  of  results  a  hundred 
fold  while  greatly  cheapening  the  price  of  manufactured  arti- 
cles; a  stable  government,  a  sober,  sensible,  vigorous  people 
were  prepared  to  make  the  most  of  these  new  forces,  for  great 
operations.  Americans  were  mainly  occupied  in  settling  and 
subduing  a  vast  new  interior  region,  while  the  neighboring 
European  nations  were  giving  their  chief  attention  to  their 
forms  of  government.  The  old  forms  were  antiquated,  rigid, 
and  unsuited  for  modern  times,  but  so  firmly  upheld  by  the  ■ 
higher  classes,  in  whose  interest  they  had  been  built  up, 
that  reconstruction  could  be  accomplished  only  by  violence. 
This  kept  them  disturbed  and  in  a  state  highly  unfavorable 
to  industrial  prosperity.  So  England  reaped  tlie  first  great 
liarvest  from  invention,  machinery  and  steam  as  industrial 
forces. 

Her  situation,  so  near  the  most  civilized  nations  of  the  Old 
World  ;  her  position,  so  favorable  for  commerce  with  the 
New  World  and  with  Asia  ;  her  experience  in,  and  almost 
monopoly  of,  commerce  tended  to  concentrate  capital  in  her 
snug,  intelligently  governed  group  of  islands,  and  make  her 
the  center  of  a  world-wide  activity.  Her  geological  and 
national  history  seemed  to  have  been  conducted  in  view  of 
the  opportunities  now  opening.  Whatever  minor  difliculties 
miglit  require  removal,  there  was  substantial  freedom  and 
self-government  for  the  active  classes  of  her  people,  and  for 
industry  and  trade,  with  an  assurance  of  such  tranquility  as 
their  progress  and  prosperity  requii-ed. 

All  the  great  historical  commotions  had  been  caused  by  a 
slow  drifting  away  of  the  Government  from  the  original 
Anglo-Saxon  principle  of  self-governing  communities,  and 
the  periodical  effort  of  the  people  to  restore  the  lost  force  of 


736  ENGLAND. 

the  individual  in  tlie  liody  politic — to  maintain  "  the  rights  of 
Englishmen  "  as  against  the  usurpations  of  them  by  the 
Government.  A  decisive  and  lasting  victory  had  been 
gained  more  than  a  hundred  years  before,  although  the  full 
benefit  of  it  had  j-et  to  lie  exjierienced.  A  quiet,  often  un- 
perceived,  tendeiu;y  toward  liberalizing  the  Government  was 
in  progress.  The  mass  of  the  people  did  not  govern  directly, 
tor  the  House  of  Commons  was  chiefly  composed  of  the 
higher  aud  wealthier  classes  ;  but  those  classes  were  trusted 
by  the  people,  and  fairly  represented  their  interests  as  then 
understood.  England  was  really  controlled  by  those  who 
were  most  intelligent  and,  if  not  unselfish,  were  sensible 
enough  to  show  a  real  regard  to  the  popular  wishes.  When 
the  time  came  reforms  would  be  made  in  a  quiet,  orderly  man- 
ner, or  at  least  without  disastrous  public  e.xcitement,  and 
business  interests  might  dwell  secure  under  the  shadow  of  the 
British  Constitution. 

The  production  of  unlimited  steam  power  required  vast 
quantities  of  fuel,  and  it  was  now  found  that  Nature  had  sup- 
plied this  need  during  the  Geological  Ages,  millions  of  years 
before,  by  surpassingly  rich  deposits  of  the  best  qualities  of 
coal  beneath  the  fertile  surface  of  all  the  islands.  It  was 
especially  abundant  in  England  itself,  near  the  trade  centers, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  largest  and  most  intelligent  and 
enterprising  population.  Invention  of  machinery  for  pro- 
ducing quantities  of  manufactured  goods,  limited  only  by  the 
capacity  of  the  markets  of  the  world  to  receive,  was  thus 
supported  in  the  nineteenth  centur}'  by  all  other  necessary 
conditions  of  overwhelming  success.  Before  proceeding  to 
estimate  the  vast  measure  of  this  success  it  is  desirable  to 
understand  about  what  was  the  condition  of  English  industry 
and  trade  in  the  last  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  when  the 
new  and  extraordinary  growth  began. 

The  enormous  national  expansion  commenced  about  the 
same  time  in  England  as  in  America,  and  was  immediately 


VAST    PROGRESS    IN    THE    NINETEEXTII    CENTURY.  lot 

due  to  a  full  command  of  the  same  great  agent — steam.  This 
mighty  energy,  which  quite  transformed  tlie  modern  world  in 
fifty  years,  began  to  give  promise  i.>f  the  future  by  1S15,  and 
to  be  fully  appreciated  by  1S25  on  each  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
Yet  great  agencies  mature  slowly.  The  first  railway  was 
built  in  1825,  and,  in  1850,  there  were  but  6,621  miles  in  the 
British  Islands.  The  Atlantic  was  not  crossed  by  steamers 
till  1838,  and  British  expansion  did  not  acquire  its  full 
colossal  proportions  till  Free  Trade  had  been  adopted  and  the 
gold  of  California  and  Australia  had  supplied  to  the  world  a 
tolerably  adequate  measure  and  representative  of  its  increased 
values.  In  1870  the  coal  raised  for  use  in  England  wasal>out 
six  million  tons.  Fifty  years  later  it  was  a  moderate  quan- 
tity. There  was  a  great  but  rather  slow  increase  for  thirty 
years  longer.  About  the  close  of  the  American  Civil  War  it 
reached  one  hundred  million  tons  yearly,  and  the  quantity 
increased  in  1880  to  considerably  more  than  one  hundred 
and  thirty  million  tons  annually — nearly  as  much  as  all  the 
rest  of  the  world,  including  the  United  States,  produces. 

When  the  French  war  began,  about  1793,  England  im- 
ported much  of  her  iron.  In  the  early  years  of  this  century 
she  produced  about  150,000  tons  annually,  and  imported 
about  40,000.  After  1824,  when  the  hot  blast  began  to  l>e 
used  in  smelting,  there  was  great  progress.  Soon  the  annual 
production  reached  millions  of  tons — averaging  between  1870 
and  1880  about  six  and  a  half  millions,  which  is  equal  to  that 
of  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  although  most  nations  enter  into 
competition,  or  may  do  so — iron  ore  being  the  most  common 
of  the  metals.  This  illustrates  well  the  superiority  of  English 
energy  when  once  fully  launched  in  pursuit  of  an  end.  It 
improves  all  advantages  and  enters  into  business  on  the 
largest  scale  in  order  to  produce  at  the  least  comparative  cost, 
and  so  triumphs  over  all  competition. 

Up  to  a  late  period  in  the  last  century  the  means  of  trans- 
port were  very  imperfect  and  costly.  The  improvement  of 
47 


738  ENGLAND, 

highways  and  construction  of  canals  proceeded  actively  after 
1760,  and  by  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  needs 
of  business  were  fairly  met,  for  that  time.  The  English 
people  had  been  like  an  overgrown  and  careless  giant,  gener- 
ally good  natured,  not  readily  aroused,  living  a  somewhat 
rude,  rather  careless  country  life  in  "  Merry  England  " — 
fierce  and  warlike  at  times,  but  soon  subsiding  into  a  quiet 
life  for  lack  of  a  sufficient  object.  While  they  did  not  see 
their  way  clear  to  great  things,  and  were  not  very  seriously 
interfered  with  in  their  customary  pleasures  and  rights,  they 
permitted  their  rulers  to  think  and  act  for  them  at  their 
will. 

But  the  long  European  war  of  nearly  twenty-five  years,  in 
which  they  finally  came  out  victors,  aroused  them.  Power- 
ful instruments  of  peaceful  victories  were  oifered  for  tlieir 
use.  They  turned  their  awakened  energies  to  new  fields  of 
achievement  and  never  again  allowed  their  ambition  to  be 
foremost  and  carry  all  their  undertakings  to  success,  to  slum- 
ber. A  restless  and  varied  activity  henceforth  contrasted 
strongly  with  their  previous  love  of  quiet,  and  dislike  to 
change. 

The  growth  of  towns  and  cities,  mining  enterprises  and  a 
manufacturing  population,  greatly  increased  the  value  of  land, 
so  largely  held  by  the  nobility  and  gentry,  the  middle  classes 
gained  enormous  wealth  in  commerce,  trade  and  manufac- 
tures and  the  laboring  classes  new  fields  of  employment. 
The  desire  for  setting  things  right  took  hold  of  them.  The 
era  of  Reforms  was  opened  and  one  has  succeeded  another 
from  1820  to  the  present.  A  general  serious  desire  that 
others  besides  themselves  should  have  their  rights  led  them 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  British  Empire,  the  larger  colonies 
were  permitted  the  fullest  liberty  to  govern  themselves,  and 
they  placed  themselves,  generally,  on  the  side  of  human  lib- 
erty and  at  the  head  of  modern  enlightened  progress. 

They  soon  became  intimately  and  usefully  concerned  in 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    ENGLAND'S   INDUSTRIES.  739 

the  affairs  of  all  nations  by  an  ever-growing  trade,  and  ever 
new  manufactures.  They  had  invented  none  of  the  great 
industries,  originally,  and  rather  repulsed  tlian  invited 
tliem  to  become  naturalized  in  their  island  until  this  period 
of  awakening.  Calicoes  and  cotton  fabrics  originated  in 
India;  silk-weavinof  was  learned  from  the  French  and  Itai- 
ians;  the  Hollanders  introduced  the  fine  woolen  manufac- 
tures; ship-building  and  the  gains  of  commerce  were  imi- 
"tated  from  the  Genoese  and  Venetians,  the  German  Hanse 
Towns  and  the  Dutch.  Yet  when  this  people,  so  rich  in 
mental  energy  and  resource,  gave  their  full  attention  to  the 
pursuit  of  these  industries  they  acquired  an  enlargement  and 
scope  quite  amazing  to  their  inventors. 

They  had  advanced  far  into  the  present  century  before  the 
laws  of  commerce  and  trade  and  economic  science,  generally, 
became  clear  to  them.  Then  they  carried  reform  as  near  as  pos- 
sible to  the  bottom  of  past  evils  and  errors  and  swept  away  the 
hindrances  to  vast  and  profitable  enterprise.  About  1850  the 
way  was  fairly  open  and  a  great  future  fully  assured.  This 
has  been  so  entirely  realized  that  there  has  been  hardly  any 
comparison  between  them  and  particular  nations  in  most 
great  lines  of  business.  In  several  points  the  United  States 
has,  in  recent  years,  been  rising  so  fast,  and  with  such  an 
incalculable  mass  of  resources  for  future  development,  as  to 
indicate  that  British  progress  must,  in  many  things,  soon 
pass  into  some  new  phase. 

Yet  there  is  much  for  that  vigorous  and  rich  young  Re- 
public to  do  before  it  can  take  the  lead  in  any  of  the  great 
modern  specialties  of  British  activity.  The  entire  foreign 
trade  of  England  is  about  two  and  a  half  times  larger  than 
that  of  the  United  States  and  about  equal  to  that  of  France 
and  Germany  combined.  The  United  States,  with  its  great 
variety  of  productions,  differing  climates,  manufactures,  its 
mines  of  all  kinds  and  its  large  population,  is  a  world  in 
itself.     Being  largelj'  busied  in  developing  new  lands  and 


740  ENGLAND. 

resources  and  in  paying  its  war  debt  it  shares  much  less  in 
the  general  business  of  the  outside  world  than  an  old  coun- 
try, or  than  it  will  in  the  future. 

In  ISOl  England  imported  twenty-one  million  pounds  of 
cotton;  in  1875  si.xteen  hundred  million.  In  1785  the  export 
of  cotton  goods  amounted  to  $4,300,000;  in  1810  to  $90,000,- 
000;  in  1874  to  $375,000,000;  and  woolen  manufactures  ex- 
ported in  the  latter  year  were  valued  at  $140,000,000.  This 
was  the  surplus  after  its  own  people  had  been  supplied.  The 
textile  industries  employed  over  one  million  persons  and  the 
metal  manufactures  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  Its  coal 
was  worth  $230,000,000  per  annum,  and  its  pig-iron  amounted 
to  $90,000,000  in  1876.  With  this  world-wide  trade  it  had 
accumulated  vast  deposits  of  capital.  Much  of  this  was  in- 
vested in  all  kinds  of  enterprises  in  foreign  lands,  or  loaned 
on  good  security  and  at  good  interest  in  a  thousand  forms,  so 
that  it  was  interested  in,  and  shared  the  progress  and  pros- 
perity of  all  lands. 

The  commercial  marine  of  England  was  large  for  those 
times  at  the  beginning  of  the  century — or  about  two  million 
tons  capacity.  Half  the  century  had  passed  before  this  was 
doubled.  Other  countries  entered  into  a  lively  competition 
with  English  ships  but  its  superiority  has  been  maintained 
to  this  day.  In  1876  it  reached  about  six  million  tons,  and, 
in  1878,  over  six  million  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
tons.  More  than  half  this  was  exclusively  engaged  in  foreign 
trade  and  a  large  part  of  the  remainder  partly  in  home  and 
partly  in  foreign  trade.  The  United  States  had,  at  this  time, 
about  four  million,  five  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  tons, 
mostly  engaged  in  home  trade.  More  than  70  per  cent  of  its 
foreign  trade  was  conveyed  back  and  forth  by  foreign  ship- 
ping. 

The  capacity  of  American  shipping  was  larger  than  that 
of  any  country  but  England.  More  than  one  million  tons  of 
sailing  and  steam  capacity  were  employed  on  the  Northern 


THE    COMMERCIAL    FUTURE    OF    ENGLAND.  741' 

Lakes  and  "Western  Rivers.  The  Civil  "War  was  disastrous 
to  its  shipping  then  engaged  in  the  foreign  trade  and  this 
has  continued  to  diminish.  It  seems  likely  to  revive,  in 
time,  and  press  hard  on  the  heels  of  British  commerce.  The 
last  has  continued  to  expand  during  years  of  financial  de- 
pression. It  is  not  easy  to  foresee  its  future  but  there  are  no 
present  indications  of  a  tendency  to  decay  in  this  direction. 
Canada.  India  and  Australia  are  rapidly  coming  forward  as 
commercial  powers,  south  Africa  seems  likely  to  do  so  pres- 
ently, and  the  British  "West  Indies  and  South  American  pos- 
sessions are  likely  to  show  a  rapid  growth  in  that  near  future 
when,  the  Isthmus  Canal  being  in  use,  and  the  southern 
United  States,  Mexico,  Central  and  northern  South  America 
being  stirred  up  to  great  commercial  activity,  a  New  Era  of 
earnest  progress  shall  dawn  for  these  tropical  regions.  Eng- 
land is  likely  to  share  iu  all  these  rapidly  increasing  activities, 
since  the  more  enterprising  dwellers  in  all  these  regions  are 
of  her  own  race  and,  in  large  part,  in  political  dependence 
on,  or  intimate  relations  with,  her. 

She  has,  in  her  islands  and  resident  abroad — but  consider- 
ing Great  Britain  as  "  Home  " — a  people  trained  to  activities 
and  enterprise  in  the  line  of  this  progress;  she  has  vast  col- 
lections of  capital  and,  after  her  internal  development  of  the 
last  eighty  years,  no  very  important  or  very  extensive  calls 
on  the  attention  of  her  statesmen  to  liome  reforms  or  on  the 
capital  of  her  business  men  to  develop  extensive  home  inter- 
ests. Not  that  reform  is  complete,  or  that  many  branches  of 
home  business  are  not  of  prime  importance,  but  that  all  these 
are  well  under  way.  The  momentum  of  the  past  and  the 
present  tendencies  in  these  directions  are  so  well  settled  as  to 
bring,  inevitably,  the  readjustments  that  the  welfare  of  the 
people  demands. 


CHAPTEK  VI. 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 


The  foregoing  survey  of  the  leading  industrial  and  com- 
mercial branches  of  the  Teutonic  race  in  this  century  has 
been  more  especially  directed  to  the  qualities  displayed  in 
their  history  and  some  of  the  more  modern  developments  in 
material  progress  during  the  present  century.  The  world 
hardly  realizes  all  that  England  has  done  for  it,  or  how  won- 
derfully she  has  grown  in  the  last  two  generations.  Ameri- 
cans, especially,  have  been  so  intent  in  pushing  forward  their 
own  great  and  profitable  undertakings,  and  so  satisfied  and 
impressed  with  their  great  success  as  to  have  given  very  im- 
perfect attention  to  the  progress  of  England  during  the  same 
time;  or,  if  the  greatness  and  breadth  of  English  activities 
have  been  clearly  appreciated,  they  have  been  inclined  to  as- 
sume that  its  gradual  accumulations  in  former  centuries  gave 
it  so  many  advantages  in  the  start  that  no  really  just  com- 
parison was  possible. 

The  two  great  branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  family  are 
worthy  of  each  other.  America  has  done  her  toilsome  task 
of  building  from  new  foundations  in  a  wilderness  and  in  the 
midst  of  tiie  most  formidable  difficulties  with  incomparable 
thoroughness  and  speed.  The  wealth  that  has  rewarded  her 
pains  was  lodged  in  and  beneath  lier  soil  with  great  profusion 
by  nature.  She  has  not  been  spoiled  by  success;  riches  have 
not  relaxed  her  energies  moral,  mental,  or  physical;  she  has 
sought  fundamental  political  truths  and  been,  on  tiie  whole, 
thoroughly  loyal  to  it  when  found.  She  has  emphatically 
asserted  the  dignity  of  labor  as  against  the  European  aristo- 
cratic customs  that  degraded  it.  She  inherited  the  institu- 
tion of  servitude  for  one   race  and  has,  at  great  cost,  repudi- 

742 


LIBERAL    EKFOBMS    AND    THE    ARISTOCRACY.  743 

ated  it,  and  otherwise  made  such  liberal  progress  as  the 
imperfections  of  human  nature  permitted.  She  has  done 
singular!}'  well  and  is  likely  todo  still  better  and  make  a  much 
more  impressive  showing  in  the  future. 

But  England  was  not  to  be  outdone  in  the  tield  of  energy 
and  enterprise.  Many  of  its  liberal  reforms  have  gone  far  to 
secure  the  most  important  rights  of  manhood,  and  constituted 
it  a  virtual  republic;  and  if  its  aristocratic  classes  exert  a  verj' 
large  influence  in  its  affairs  still,  furnishing  a  great  propor- 
tion of  its  officials  and  leaders  in  all  departments  of  govern- 
ment and  politics,  it  is  chiefly  because  they  identify'  them- 
selves with  the  principal  interests  of  the  people  and  the  wel- 
fare of  the  country.  They  do  not  so  much  resist  the  leveling 
democratic  influences  of  the  time,  as  seek  to  maintain  their 
ascendency  by  becoming  more  worthy  and  capable  and  labor- 
ing to  level  the  people  up  to  their  own  standard  of  character 
and  mental  breadth.  They  are,  therefore,  justly  resjiected 
and  esteemed  beyond  the  corresponding  class  of  an}'  other 
country  in  the  world,  at  any  period.  They  are  an  ennobling 
and  useful  force  in  English  society  and  the  State,  adding  to 
the  strength  of  the  latter,  to  the  dignity  of  the  former, 
and  furnishing  a  high  standard  of  excellence  to  the  world. 
They,  naturallj',  have  exerted  a  strong  influence  on  the 
highest  classes  of  other  countries.  In  the  last  century  it  was 
often  too  justly  complained  that  dignity  of  birth  and  social 
station  was  regarded  by  the  noble  and  royal  classes  of  Euro- 
pean countries  as  an  excuse  for  the  want  of  most  other  claims 
to  respect  and  veneration  ;  and,  if  this  has  generally  ceased 
to  be  so  in  all  Europe,  it  is  largely  due  to  the  example  set 
by  the  English  nobility  and  gentiy.  Thus  England  has 
known  how  to  keep  the  lead  of  modern  progress,  contributing 
not  a  little,  in  a  thousand  important  ways,  to  American  im- 
provement up  to  the  present  time. 

English  statisticians  have,  in  recent  years,  undertaken  to 
sum  up  the  material  progress  of  the  Home  Islands  as  rep- 


744  ENGLAND. 

resented  by  successive  accumulations  of  wealth.  One  of 
these  periodical  summaries  presented  the  points  previously 
dwelt  on,  in  January,  1S78,  so  iniprussively  that  the  general 
facts  are  extracted  from  it.  It  is  that  of  Mr.  Kobert  GiflFen, 
and  is  accomjiaiiied  with  a  table  showing  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation and  wealth  of  the  United  States  for  the  same  time. 
The  summary  of  England's  wealth  is  based  on  official  data  of 
1S74— 5.  Tlie  collective  property  of  the  people  and  Govern- 
ment uf  Great  Britain,  at  that  time,  was  estimated  as  at  least 
eight  thousand  live  hundred  million  pounds  sterling  ;  which, 
at  $5  to  the  pound,  would  be  forty-two  thousand  five  hundred 
million  dollars.  The  estimate  of  the  United  States  Census, 
in  1870,  for  that  country,  in  which  it  was  given  in  dollars  of 
the  then  depreciated  currency,  was  about  two-thirds  of  that 
sum,  or  thirty  thousand  million. 

A  like  estimate  of  English  wealth  was  made  in  1865  by  a 
different,  but  eminent  statistician,  and  from  similar  data. 
The  amount  then  stood  at  thirty  thousand  five  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars — a  gain  of  twelve  thousand  million  dollars  in  ten 
years.  Tliis  is  a  vast  sum,  indeed,  although  nominally  the 
United  States  gained  by  the  official  showing  of  the  Census, 
between  1860  and  1870,  about  two  thousand  million  dollars 
nioi-e,  in  spite  of  four  years  of  civil  war  and  waste.  Tiie  dis- 
count on  the  paper  dollar  of  the  Ilepublic  at  that  time  would 
make  its  gain  nearly  four  hundred  million  less  than  that  of 
England — yet  the  gain  during  the  next  five  years  was  much 
greater  than  at  any  other  period,  and  the  gain  from  1865  to 
1875,  the  period  on  which  the  increase  in  England  was  com- 
puted, must  have  been  at  least  equal,  and  probably  consider- 
ably larger,  for  it  was,  during  those  years,  in  the  full  flush  of 
the  most  rapid  and  comprehensive  development  of  its  virgin 
resources. 

The  personal  property  of  the  more  prosperous  part  of  the 
people  that  has  borne  the  burden  of  taxation  in  England  has 
been  computed  by  a  third  statistician  to  have  increased  be- 
tween the  years  1814  and  1845,  as  follows  : 


THE   GAINS    OF    HALF    A    CENTURY.  745 

1814 $6,000,000,000. 

1819 6,50O,(.K)O,0O0. 

1824 7,500,000,000. 

1829 8,500,000,000. 

1834 9,000,000,000. 

1841 10,000,000.000. 

1845 11,000,000,000. 

The  later  authorities  make  this  portion  of  English  wealth 
$17,500,000  000,  nearly,  in  1S65,  and  in  1875  nearly  $25,000,- 
000,000.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  increase  in  this  division  of 
the  property  of  England  during  one  decade  was  much  more 
than  all  the  personal  property  of  Englishmen  at  the  close  of 
the  long  European  war  in  1814,  and  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  as  late  as  1841.  It  was  after  1850,  when  the  gold  of 
California  and  Australia  had  increased  the  working  capital 
of  the  world  so  remarkably,  that  a  colossal  expaiision  of  busi- 
ness activity  and  the  period  of  immense  profits  commenced. 
Railroads  and  Telegraphs  furnished  means  for  any  desirable 
activity  in  home  industry  and  trade,  and  the  steam  vessel, 
submarine  telegraph  and  railways  in  other  countries  fur- 
nished the  opening  England  needed  in  the  foreign  world  for 
the  vast  extension  of  her  commerce  and  the  full  use  of  her 
machinery,  laborers  and  capital  in  manufacturing  profitably  at 
home. 

Great  Britain  emerged  from  the  European  and  last  Amer- 
ican wars  in  1815  with  a  Public  Debt  of  about  four  thousand 
five  hundred  million  dollars,  which  has  been  reduced  by  re- 
funding and  payment  to  something  less  than  four  thousand 
millions.  This  was  a  vast  burden  to  be  borne  during  the 
fifty  years  that  passed  while  the  country  was  organizing  and 
expanding  its  great  industries.  The  property  of  the  people, 
on  which  this  was  a  first  mortgage,  was  about  eleven  thousand 
million  dollars.  The  liabilities  were  therefore  more  than  a 
third  of  the  assets.  This  debt  was  almost  entirely  invested 
or  due  at  home,  and  the  interest  on  it  was  promptly  paid  year 
by  year.  In  1815  the  annual  income  of  the  peojile  from  their 
then  capital  is  stated  to  have  been  about  $450,000,000,  about 


746  ENGLAND. 

one-third  of  wliich  was  required  to  meet  the  interest  of  the 
debt.  At  the  present  time  (or  in  1S75)  the  annual  income 
from  capital  is  more  than  $2,225,000,000,  and  the  interest 
charge  of  the  debt  is  about  $105,000,000,  or  one  twenty- 
second  part.  The  people  earn  more  per  head  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  are  in  a  much  better  situation  every  way,  both  as  to 
present  and  the  future,  from  increased  mental,  technical  and 
material  resources  in  many  ways,  aside  from  the  accumula- 
tions of  income,  by  twenty-two  times. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  burden  of  the  debt  and  the  cost  of 
government  with  all  its  increased  outlays  for  the  welfare  of 
commerce,  for  sanitary  purposes  and  for  education,  dwindles 
constantly  in  proportion  to  the  private  resources  of  the 
people.  The  laboring  population  is  better  lodged  and  fed, 
while  relieved  of  an  incalculable  amount  of  drudgery  by  the 
universal  use  of  machinery  where  it  is  possible  to  employ  it, 
with  shorter  hours  of  employment  and  a  constant  influx  of 
new  ideas  and  stimulus  to  thought. 

The  increase  of  property  from  1865  to  1875  was  about  40 
per  cent  and  its  increase  per  head  of  population  was  about  27 
per  cent.  So  our  statistician  declares  that  the  nation  might 
lose  one-fourth  of  its  property  and  still  be  as  rich  as  it  was  in 
1865.  There  is,  therefore,  an  immense  margin  for  fluctuations 
and  changes  without  seriously  damaging  the  resources  of  the 
people.  Those  resources  have  been  proved,  by  this  vast  pros- 
perity of  a  portion  of  a  century,  to  lie  largely  in  the  mind 
and  skilled  energy  of  the  race.  It  may  be  said  that  all 
branches  of  this  race  have  been  at  least  proportionately  pros- 
perous when  separated  from  the  Mother  Country  and  man- 
aging for  themselves,  whether  in  colonies,  as  in  Canada  and 
Australia,  or  in  entire  independence,  as  in  the  United  States. 

We  have  seen  how  this  independent  stock  improved,  both 
in  (quality  and  measure,  in  the  Republic,  and  the  more  com- 
pletely it  leaves  behind  the  embarrassments  that  caused,  and 
were  caused  by,  the   Civil  War  tlie   stronger  grows  the   evi- 


THE    GREAT    VIGOR   OF    ENGLISH    ADMINISTRATION.  747 

dence  that  its  great  career  is  scarcely  begun  and  tliat  its 
normal  rapidity  and  momentum  of  progress  have  not  yet 
been  reached.  It  is  not  easy  for  the  Anglo-American  to  see 
tiiat  the  material  progress  of  England  should  still  keep  her 
ahead  and  may  do  so  for  years  to  come.  The  secret  is  one 
of  character,  of  mental  force,  and  of  steadiness  and  skill  in 
management.  The  special  form  government  has  assumed 
and  the  methods  by  which  great  changes  are  made  in  Eng- 
land have  some  important  advantages  that  partly  equalize  the 
special  superiorities  of  American  resources  and  habits  and 
the  more  direct  and  immediate  operation  of  its  radical  prin- 
ciples of  manhood  rights. 

The  English  Parliament  raa}'  be  considered  to  embrace,  in 
general,  the  best  representatives  of  all  its  superior  classes — 
that  which  has  the  most  dignified  and  cultured  ancestry,  the 
aristocracy  of  intelligence,  the  most  successful  and  largest 
minded  business  men  and  a  good  representation  of  its  best 
laboring  classes.  The  past  history  of  the  country,  its  social 
structure,  the  influence  of  precedent,  and  the  many  special 
circumstances  controlling  the  selection  of  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  unite  in  rendering  them  vigorously  con- 
servative and  carefully  progressive.  They  substantially  direct 
e.xecutive  policy»as  well  as  make  laws.  The}- hold  firm  con- 
trol over  all  the  interests  of  the  country  and  are  prepared  to 
act  with  greater  vigor  and  thoroughness  when  they  see  cause 
than  a  body  of  men  more  perfectly  representative  of  the  ab- 
solute average  of  the  whole  population  and  whose  duties  are 
more  purely  legislative. 

The  Cabinet  has  more  concentrated  vigor  at  command  for 
any  special  occasion;  they  can  command  the  Ship  of  State, 
can  control  and  direct  its  movements  more  perfectly  than  a  less 
select  body  of  men  in  a  country  less  under  the  influence  of  its 
traditions  and  its  higher  classes.  The  policy  of  the  Repub- 
lic is  better  for  the  working  out  of  its  fundamental  principle 
— the  elevation  of  its  lower  and  less  cultured  citizens.     But 


748  ENGLAND. 

there  is  a  growing  strength  in  the  Anglo-American  system, 
which,  if  it  is  less  effective  at  special  times,  and  in  earlier 
periods  of  its  development,  tends  to  give  greater  breadth  and 
massiveness  and  variety  to  its  growth.  The  power  elevat- 
ing its  people,  inspiring  the  universal  mind  to  independent 
action,  and  conferring  skill  of  execution  on  the  universal 
hand,  goes  to  the  lowest  strata  of  the  general  mass,  tends  to 
bring  it  to  the  level  of  the  higher  and  into  the  most  intimate 
sympathy  with  the  general  tone  of  progress.  Thus  the 
greater  possibilities  of  America  are  in  the  future.  It  can  do 
less  as  compared  with  England  at  once,  but  probably  more 
in  the  end.  The  progress  is  more  a  general  and  popular  one, 
in  which  every  individual  citizen — of  the  lower  grade  espe- 
cially— shares  more  fully  in  the  increase  of  force  and  skill 
than  in  England. 

England  attends  to  the  prosperity  and  elevation  of  her  lower 
classes  more  and  more,  but  in  the  style  of  a  schoolmaster  or 
tutor,  which  does  not  call  out  tlie  mental  force  in  growth  so 
fully  as  when,  in  America  and  the  self-ruling  colonies, 
those  classes  are  pronounced  of  age  and  take  all  the  responsi- 
bilities of  life  on  them.  The  difference  in  the  end  is  import- 
ant. In  England  this  result  is — and  will  continue  to  be  more 
and  more — modified  by  intimacy  of  connection  with  the  col- 
onies. Her  lower  classes  may  emigrate  to  the  self- ruling 
colonies  and  enter  on  a  course  of  most  vigorous  self-educa- 
tion. They  often  return  "  Home, "  developed  and  capable,  to 
take  their  places  among  the  higher  and  ruling  classes  there, 
and  communicate  a  stronger  upward  impulse  to  the  class 
from  which  they  sjirung.  It  is  a  curious  and  interesting 
question  how  nearly  England  matches  the  rising  popular 
force  in  America.  A  race,  a  trial  of  rapidity  in  progress  and 
growth,  is  being  made  bj-  monarchial  England  and  her  demo- 
cratic descendant  across  the  ocean.  Americans  are  sure  they 
shall  come  out  far  ahead;  but  England  holds  her  course  well 
for  the  present.  Can  she  in  the  future?  It  remains  to  be 
seen. 


HOW    THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND    IS    INVESTED. 


JiO 


The  following  tables  give  the  English  estimates  of  the 
wealth  of  the  Home  Empire  for  1865  and  1875,  summaries 
of  which  have  been  given  above  in  dollars.  They  are  here 
presented  in  their  original  form,  estimated  in  pounds  sterling, 
as  a  means  of  verifying — or  modifying  if  they  shall  seem  to 
any  one  to  justify  that — the  conclusions  of  tliis  chapter.  The 
table  showing  the  material  progress  of  the  United  States  in 
summary  decennial  statements  from  the  official  census  by 
decades  (estimated  before  1840)  from  1790  to  1870,  is  also 
presented  for  comparison:- 

APPROXIMATE  ACCOUNT  OF    CAPITAL  AS  PROPERTY  IN  THE  UNITED 
KINGDOM  IN  1865  AND  1875  COMPARED.     ' 


Lands  -  -  - - - 

Houses 

Farmers'  profits 

Public  funds,  less  home  funds 

Mines 

Iron-works 

Railways 

Canals 

Gas-works. 

Quarries 

O  ther  profits 

Other  income  tax,  income  principally 
trades  and  professions  and  public 
companies 

Trades  and  professions  omitted 

Income  from  capital  of  non-income 

tax-paying  classes 

Foreign  investments  not  in  Schedules 

CandD 

Movable  property  not  yielding  income 
Government  and  local  property,  say. 


1866. 


1875. 


Millions. 

£1,864 

1,031 

620 

211 

19 

7 

414 

18 

37 

3 

55 


659 


4,938 

75 

200 

100 

500 

300 

6TT3~ 


Millions. 

£2,007 

1.420 

668 

519 

56 

29 

655 

20 

53 

4 

84 


1,128 


6,643 

105 

300 

420 

700 

400 

8,548 


Increase  in  1875. 


Amount. 


Millions. 

£143 

389 

48 

308 

37 

22 

241 

2 

16 

2 

29 


469 


1,706 

30 

100 

300 

200 

100 

2,486 


Pr.  ct. 


38 

8 

146 

195 

314 

58 

11 

43 

100 

53 


71 


35 

40 
50 


300 
40 
33 
40 


750 


ENGLAND. 


STATEMENT  SHOWING  THE  POPULATION  AND  WEALTH  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  BY  DECADES,  FROM  1790  TO  1870;  DECENNIAL 
PERCENTAGE  INCREASE  OF  POPULATION;  DECENNIAL  PERCENT- 
AGE INCREASE  OF  NATIONAL  WEALTH;  AND  AVERAGE  PROPERTY 
OF  EACH  PERSON. 


TEAR. 

Population. 

Decennial 

percentage  in- 

crea-e  of 

wealth. 

Decennial  percent- 
age increase  of 
population. 

Decennial 

percentage 

increaeeof 

wealth. 

Average 
property 
to  each 

person. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

1790.... 

3,929,837 

1750,000,000 
(estimated) 

$187,00 

1800.... 

5,305,937 

1,072,000,000 
(estimated) 

35.02 

43.0 

202.13 

1810..-. 

7,339,814 

1,500,000,000 
(estimated) 

36.43 

39.0 

207.20 

1820.... 

9,638,191 

1,882,000,000 
(estimated) 

33.13 

25.4 

195.00 

1830.... 

13,866,020 

3,653,000,000 
(estimated) 

33.49 

41.0 

206.00 

1840.... 

17,069,453 

3,764,000,000 
(official) 

32.67 

41.7 

220.00 

1850.... 

23,191,876 

7,135,780,000 
(official) 

35.87 

89.6 

307.67 

I860.... 

31,500,000 

16,159,000,000 
(official) 

36.59 

126.42 

510.00 

1870.... 

38,558,000 

30,069  000,000 
(official) 

22.00 

86.13 

776.96 

It  may  be  observed  on  the  above  data  that  the  statisticians 
did  not  iind  reliable  means  for  ascertaining  the  real  distribu- 
tion of  this  vast  increase  of  English  wealth  among  the  various 
classes  of  the  population.  Capital  has  certainly  accumulated 
there  and  in  America,  in  a  large  measure,  in  great  masses, 
althougii  the  greater  masses  are  commonly  held  by  corpora- 
tions, the  number  of  whose  individual  members  it  is  impos- 
sible to  ascertain.  The  rich  have  undoubtedly  reaped  a  large 
share  of  the  harvest  ;  yet  very  large  numbers  of  the  poor  of 
former  periods  have  become  rich,  and  the  condition  of  the 
laboring  classes  has  been,  generally,  mucli  improved.  In 
America  there  is  a  much  wider  distribution  of  the  general 
wealth.  All  classes  are  fairly  comfortable  ;  a  large  part  of 
the  people  live  in  their  own  houses  on  their  own  land,  and 


WHY    ENGLAND    WILL    CONTINUE    TO    EXPAND.  751 

most  of  those  who  do  not  are  in  receipt  of  comfortable 
incomes  which  they  are  not  inclined  to  invest  in  real  estate. 

To  the  question  whetlier  tlie  English  people  continued  to 
prosper  during  the  depression  comnieiicing  in  lS7-i  and 
nearly  at  its  height  when  these  inquiries  were  instituted,  and 
to  invest  their  capital  as  had  been  uniformly  the  case  during 
the  previous  part  of  the  century,  the  answer  by  the  statistician 
was  in  the  affirmative.  Although  business  was  dull  and 
under  reorganization,  to  some  extent,  the  entire  mass  of  it 
was  diminished  only  by  a  few  tens  of  millions  of  dollars — 
an  unimportant  fraction  compared  with  the  whole.  Accu- 
mulation constantly  goes  on,  even  if  less  in  sum.  Much  of  it 
arises  from  foreign  investments  and  times  of  business  pres- 
sure are  vigorous  teachers  of  economy  and  prudence  ;  so  that 
probably  as  much  is  permanently  saved  as  is  lost  by  slack- 
ness of  production. 

Nor  is  it  at  all  probable  that  the  limit  of  English  expan- 
sion is  being  approached.  Englishmen  and  English  capital 
were  never  before  possessed  of  so  wide  a  field,  of  so  many 
skillful  instruments  of  successful  activity  as  now.  They  have 
been  long  in  process  of  constantly  accelerating  growth  ;  they 
are  not  now  for  the  first  time  exposed  to  competition.  They 
have  ever  had  all  Europe,  as  well  as  America,  to  meet  in  the 
general  markets  of  the  world  ;  they  have  now  more  than  ever 
courage,  boldness,  enterprise,  science,  invention,  factories, 
machinery,  and  skilled  workmen,  and  vast  accumulations  of 
realized  wealth.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  this 
vigorous,  ambitious  people — of  all  others  best  endowed  with 
clear  sound  sense  for  the  management  of  business — should  be 
arrested  in  mid  career.  If  America  do  her  best  it  will  be 
long  before  she  can  take  precedence  of  Great  Britain,  except 
in  some  special  lines  where  her  vast  breadth  and  depth  of 
resources,  and  superior  convenience  of  access  to  them  when 
wanted,  give  her  an  incontestable  advantage. 

The  number  of  these  natural  advantages  will  increase,  and 


752  ENGLAND. 

it  is  possible  that  at  some  time  in  tiie  future  much  of  English 
capital  and  energy  may  be  transferred  to  the  colonies  or  the 
United  States  for  more  economical  use  ;  but  Anglo  Saxon 
vigor  and  intelligence  will  lead  the  world  still,  abroad  or  at 
home,  and  there  is  yet  no  sign  that  tlie  center  is  in  serious 
danger  of  being  removed  from  Great  Britain. 


INDEX. 


Acadia;    Nova  Scotia  was  so  called  by 

the  French,  681. 
Adair,  of   South    CaroliDa,  visited   the 

Cherokees  in  17iO,  187. 
Adirtkiidack  Ri.'gion  in  New  York,  its 

"Azoic  Kocke,  643,  557. 
Ag'assiz;  his  opinion  ae  to  the  Amazon 

Valley,  108. 
Ag-e,  A  period  of  lime  differing  from  all 

others  in  some  particular  way. 
—Of  Coal;  was  when  the  most  and  the 

best  was  made,  66. 
— Of  Cycads;  was  when  they  were  more 

nnmeroQBthan  any  other  trees,  68. 
—Of  Reptiles;    was  remarkable  for  the 

great   number  and  size  of  these  ani- 
mals, 77. 
—Of  Bronze;    was  when  the  best  tools 

were  made  of  that  material,  113, 143. 
— Of  Polished  Stone;   was  when  tools  of 

Stone,  carefully  polished,  were  the  beet 

known,  113. 
—Of  Rude  ytone;    was   when  the  only 

tools  were  of  Stone,  roughly  shaped,  113. 
—Of  Iron;  when  the  art  of  making  use- 
ful iron  tools  became  known,  113,  143. 
—Of  Ice;  when  the  Northern  parts  of  the 

Continents  were  covered  with  Ice,  the 

year  round,  far  down  into  the  temperate 

zone,  50,  51. 
— Of   Phyeical   Force,  preceded  that   of 

Mental  Force,  176. 
—Of  Steam,  commenced  about  1820,250, 

251,737. 
Ai^rlcultare,  Th«  base  of  society  and 

business,  99. 


—It  gives  true  and  permanent  wealth,  99, 

nu,  623. 

-How  America  has  improved  the  char- 
acter and  couditiou  of  tlie  lowerclasses 
of  Europe  by  its  extent  wf  excellent 
soil,  and  land  laws,  451.  452. 

—How  this  industry  resists  financial 
shocks,  498,  499. 

—In  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Agriculture 
becomes  a  great  Historical  Force,  110, 
442. 

—How  all  geological  times  prepared  the 
best  possible  soil  for  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  102,  103. 

—How  the  soil  of  the  old  "■  Northwest 
Territory"  and  the  Missouri  Valley, 
was  formed  and  distributed,  52,  53,  100. 

—Origin  of  the  soil  of  the  South,  or  Gulf 
Slope.  84, 102. 

—The  origin  of  rich  soil  on  the  "Plaini" 
of  the  West,  49.  102. 

—How  the  deep  vegetable  mold  of  the 
West  was  produced,  53,  54. 

—Why  Russia,  in  Europe,  is  less  valua- 
ble for  agriculture  than  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  108. 

— Why  the  rich  Valley  of  the  Amazon,  in 
South  America,  is  still  an  unprofitable 
wilderness,  109. 

—What  various  circumstances  favored 
early  progress  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, 110. 

—Agriculture  of  the  Moand  Builders,  140. 

—What  the  modern  Indians  cultivated, 
165. 

— Why  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  irre- 
sistibly attractive  to  the  pioneers,  in 
spite  of  fearful  dangers,  204,  239, 


753 


?54: 


INDEX. 


Ag^i'i^'iilAni'c — continued. 
—The    first    crop    of    corn    raised    by 

Americans  in  Kentucky,  234. 
—With  abundant  crops,    early    eettlers 

had  no  markets,  247,  250. 
—How  BteamboatB  relieved  them,  251. 
—Why  Bettlement  was    largely  confined 

to  the  vicinity  of  rivers  till  1850,  257. 
— How  railroads  helped  settlement  and 

agriculture,  201,  365. 
—Agriculture  in  the  South;  early  profits 

on  cotton,  340. 
-Statistics  of  farm  lands  and  values  in 

the  Mississippi  Valley  in  1850  and  1860, 

865,  366. 
— Gains  in  cultivated  areas  and   values 

in  1870,  440. 
— The  aericultural  losses  of  the   South 

after  1860,  by  the  Civil  War,  440. 
—Farm  machinery  in  1860  and  1870,  441. 
—The  value  of  crops  in  different  years, 

444. 
—The    email    per  cent,   of  land    under 

cultivation  and  the  tendency  to  over- 
production, 445. 
—How  the  quarrel    between  the  farmer 

and  the  railroads  will  be  settled,  446. 
—How  the  evils  of  over-production  will 

be  avoided,  448. 
—How  free  agriculture  deals  with  mon- 
opolies, 447,  453,  613. 
—Exports  of  agricultural  products,  from 

1825  to  1875,  show  constant  gain  over 

other  industries,  453,  464. 
— The  growth  of  cities  and  the  farmer's 

problem,  455. 
— The  results  of  mining  industries  and 

agriculture  compared,  455. 
—The  profits    of   manufacturing  indus- 
tries and  agriculture  compared.  456. 
—The  connection  of  the  produce  of  the 

West  with  the  prosperity  of  the  East, 

465.  666. 


—How  the  soil  of  the  Atlantic  Slope  wa* 
prepared  in  geological  times  from 
New  York  south,  643,  660. 

— New  England  fertility  was  derived 
from  the  Drift,  244. 

— Much  of  New  York  was  part  of  the 
great  Basin  of  the  Mississippif  484» 
644,  656. 

— Its  pecnliar  advantages  in  the  Eastern 
States  for  securing  high  pricest  439, 
484. 

—Farm  values  in  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania, 657. 

—The  greater  comparative  value  of 
farm  animals  outside  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  449. 

-Future  production  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast  from  Virginia  to  Florida,  660. 

—Why  the  Western  *'  Plains  "  and  Paci- 
fic Slope  came  to  be  considered  almost 
a  desert,  549. 

—The  real  value  of  these  regions  for 
agriculture,  579,  586,  615. 

—Evidences  of  careful  cnltivation  by 
the  Prehistoric  Arizonians,  563,  565. 

—The  extent  of  fertile  land  in  Arizona, 
572,  578. 

—How  cultivation  will  Improve  the 
climate  of  desert  lands  in  Arizona, 
Utah,  and  California,  504,  605,  618. 

— Extent  and  value  of  farming  lands  iu 
Montana,  578,  580. 

—Superiority  of  Montana  for  stock- 
raising  and  dairying,  581. 

— The  agricultural  resources  of  Colorado 
and  New  Mexico,  584,  686. 

— The  remarkable  success  of  Mormon 
agriculture  in  Utah,  587,  617. 

—The  effect  of  cultivation  on  the  waters 
of  Great  Salt  Lake,  618. 

—The  extreme  fertility  of  the  Upper 
Columbia  valleys,  594. 


INDEX. 


755 


Agrirnltnre  [continned], 
— Agricnltural  landa  of  the  Upper  Col- 

ambia  BasiD,  596. 
—  Irrigation,  frait,  and  Btock-raising  in 

this  Basin,  597. 
—The  peculiar  farming   advantages    of 

Western  Washington  and  Oregon,  599, 

680. 
—The  fertile  parts  of  Northern  California, 

612. 
— The  rare  possibilities  of  Central  Cali- 
fornia, 608. 
— The  coast  region  below  San  Francisco, 

603.  612. 
—The  promising  future  of  Sonthem  Cal- 
ifornia, 6U4,  611. 
— The  possible  recovery  of  the  Colorado 

Desert,  605. 
— The  agricultural  resources  of  California 

and  Japan  compared,  611. 
— Cultivated  lands   and    entire  area  of 

California,  608. 
—The  vpheat  crop  of  California  from  1850 

to  1880,  607. 
—The  products  of  the  cultivated  lands 

of  California  in  1879,616. 
—The  great  extent  of  highly  fertile  land 

in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  699. 
—The  agricultural  capacity  of  Manitoba 

and  the  Northwest  Territories  of  the 

Dominion,  706. 
—The  soil  of  this  central  trough  had  the 

same  origin  as  that  of  the  Mississippi 

Valley,  791. 
—How  the  fertility  of  the  St.  Lawrence 

Valley  was  produced,  702. 
—The  Valley   of    the    Ottawa   and   the 

Basin  west  of  it,  703. 
— The  fertility  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New 

Brunswick,  704. 
—The  climate  and  fertility  of  the  Peace 

River  Valley,  706. 
—The    agricnltural    promise  of  British 

Columbia,  707. 


—The  large  wheat  area  of  Central  British 

America,  718. 
—How  the  fertile  soil  of  the  Island  of 

Great  Britain  was  produced,  734. 
—How  the  Gulf  Stream  promotes  the 

fertility  of  the  British  Islands,  722. 
Alabama;    De  Soto's  adventures  there 

in  1540,  172. 
— ^The  early  settlement  of  the  French  at 

Mobile,  181,  223. 
— The  war  with  the  Creek  Indians  in 

1813,  214. 
— American  settlement  of  the  center  and 

north,  244. 
—The  Constitution  of  the  State,  297. 
— Its  re-admission  to  the  Union  after  the 

Civil  War,  403. 
Alfalfa,  Chilian  Clover;   its  great  pro- 
ductiveness, 609. 
Al^onqulns,  An  Indian  race  of  many 

tribes,  originally  occupying  nearly  a 

third  of  North  America,  161, 164. 
—Tradition  thought  to  refer  to  the  Mound 

Builders,  163. 
Alleghans,  A  prehistoric  race  or  tribe 

of  Indians,  162. 
Alleghany     Moantalns;    Supposed 

origin  of  the  name,  152. 
— Early  rock-making  of  great  thickness 

along  their  site  before  they  were  raised, 

37,  642. 
—The  coal  was  made  before  they  were 

raised,  66,  644. 
— How    the   rocks   were   raised   into   a 

Mountain  Chain,  36,  643. 
— Why  they   were  not    as  high  as  the 

Rocky  Mountains,  37,  82. 
— How  the  break  in  this  chain  in  New 

York  affected  American  history,  458, 

656. 
— The  disappearance  of  the  chain  in  the 

South  opened  the  Lower  Valley  to  the 

Atlantic  Coast.  <i45. 


756 


INDEX. 


Aninzon  River  and  Valley  deBcribed,  108. 
—The    extreme     vigor  of  vegetation  in 

tliiB  Valley,  109. 
—The  future  relatione  oT  the  Miseiesippi 

and  Amazon  Valleys,  467,  538. 
America.   Its  appeare,  geologically,  to 

have  been  the  Old  World.  28.  78. 
—The  most   ancient  traces  of  man  in 

Europe  and  America,  113,  113. 
—Theories  regarding  the  origin  of   its 

first  men,  114,697. 
-Its  discovery  by  Columbus.  167. 
—Its  best  region  controls  the  destinies  of 

the  continent,  and  especially  those  of 

North  America,  529,  530,  531. 
—What  America  owes  to  Europe,  509, 

515,  673. 
— Hov?  America  influences  Europe,  515 

to  518. 
—American  Bottom  opposite  St.  Louis 

in  Illinois,  122. 
Ang'lo-Ainoricans,  They  form  a  new 

race  in  mind,  habit  and  character,  the 

base  being  English,  the  development 

determined  by  new  conditions  in  Amer- 
ica, 181,322,641,642. 
— Th.'  Anglo-Saxon  qualities  displayed, 

282.  318. 
—How  this  Race  was  developed,  650. 
—Contrast  in  the  aims  of  early  Spanish, 

French   and   English   visitors   to  the 

New  World,  183. 
— The    sturdinesB    of    Anglo-American 

character   in  the   Mississippi  Valley, 

263,  264. 
—The  strong  qualities  exhibited  on  the 

Pacific  Slope,  631,633. 
—The  qualities  displayed  on  the  Atlantic 

Slope,  645,  646. 
—In  a  comparison  the  East   proves  to 

be  the  leader.  663.  664. 
—The   maniftst  destiny  of  the  Anglo- 
American  Race,  640,  672. 


Ang'lo-Canaflians— How    they     differ 

from  the  Anglo-Americans,  692,  695. 
Ang^lo-Saxons  were   of  Teutonic,    or 
German  origin,  323,  725.- 

— Most  immigrants  to  America  not  from 
England  had  more  or  less  of  this  blood, 
263,  323,  324. 

—Business  sagacity  of  Anglo-Saxons, 
282,  489.  737,  738. 

—The  mental  strength  of  primitive  An- 
glo-Saxons, 726. 

—Their  first  institutions  founded  on 
equality.  726. 

—The  tenacity  of  the  race  in  holding  to 
recognized  rights,  727,  730, 

—Their  early  tendencies  fully  worked 
out  in  the  moat  modern  times,  730. 

—Their  boldness  and  bravery  generally 
tempered  by  moderation,  730,731. 

—Anglo-Saxons    and    Anglo-Americans 
worthy  of  each  other,  742,  743. 
Animals,  Their  first  appearance  on  the 
earth,  44. 

—Theories  about  their  origin,  58,  59. 

—How  they  first  begin  to  grow  in  a  cell, 
56. 

—How  they  multiply  and  change  with 
time,  57. 

—Was  each  kind  created,  or  is  Evolution 
tru.e?  58. 

—Man  as  an  animal  and  as  a  Mental 
Force,  59,  60. 

-Likeness  and  contrast  between  vege- 
table and  animal  life,  61. 

—The  Life  Force  niore  perfect  in  the  an- 
imal and  most  perfect  in  man,  70. 

—The  five  great  divisions  of  animals,  71. 

—Invertebrate  animals  (without  a  back- 
bone), 72. 

—The  four  classes  of  Vertebrates  (with  a 
backbone),  72. 

—Limestone  made  Itom  the  shells  of  ani- 
mals, 68.  74. 


INDEX. 


757 


Animals  [continued]. 
—How  animal    remains  were  preserved 

in  the  rocks,  73. 
—Progress  in  animal  life  as  time  went 

on,  73. 
—How  the  age  of  rocks  is  found  by  the 

remains  of  animals  in  them,  74. 
— Backboned  animals  not  introduced  till 

about  Ihe  Age  of  Coal,  75. 
—Why  there  could  be  no  animals  with 
lungs  till  after  the  Great  Coal-making 
Age,  76. 
— The  huge  animals   of  the  Mesozoic, 

or  Middle  Period  of  time,  77. 
—No    remains  of   modern  animals  are 
found  until  the  Cenozoic,  or  Recent 
Period,  78. 
— Man  is  the  Ideal,  or  finished.  Animal, 

79. 
— The  remains    of  great  animals  of  the 
Champlain  Era  after  the  Age  of  Ice, 
113. 
— These  animals  and  early  man  in  Eng- 
land, 724. 
Andes     Mountains,    When    they    were 

raised,  38. 
Archean,    or    Azoic    rocks     the    first 

"made,"  91. 
Arizona,  The  name  means  an  arid  or  dry 
belt  of  country.    The  area  of  the  Terri- 
tory, 572. 
—Its  geological  formaUon,  552,  553. 
—The  general  character  of  the  surface, 
555. 
-    — How  it  came  to  be  thought  a  land  of 
mystery  and  terror,  557. 
—Early  Spanish  explorations  in  It,  658. 
—The  Jesuit  missions  of  the  Eighteenth 

century,  560. 
—Explorations  by  the  V.  S.  Government, 

561. 
—Ancient  irrigation  and  buildings,  563. 
—The  rainfall  in  the  Territory,  573. 


— Its  climate  and  desolate  appearance, 

574. 
— Gold  and  silver  and  other  minerals  in 

it,  557,  574. 
—Its  fertility  compared  with  Montana, 

577,  583. 

Arkansas,  Iron  of   the  earliest  times 
found  in  it,  91. 

—The   Missouri   coal   field  extends  into 

it,  94. 
—The  agriculture  of  the  State,  449. 
— Its  Constitution   and  admission    into 

the  Union,  301. 
—The  River,  its  length  and  other  facte, 
SS,  585. 
Articnlates,  A  class  of  animals  jointed 

together,  72. 
Astronomy.  How  it  was  corrected  by 
the  navigation  of  the  time  of  Colnmbus, 
28. 
—It  explains  the  early  state  of  the  Earth, 

34. 
—Some  think  it  explains  the  causes  of 
the  Age  of  Ice,  50,  697. 
Astoria,  Oregon,  Taken  by  the  British, 

639. 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  in  the  Civil  War,  .385. 
Atlantic  Ocean,  Its  influence  on  the 
raising  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 
36,  642,  648. 
— Why   these   mountains    are  not    very 
high,  36,  37, 
Atlantic  Slope,  When  its  ocean  coast 
line  was  first  raised,  36,  642. 
— The  surface  where  the  mountains  now 
are  continued  to  t^ink  for  a  long  time 
before  the  mountains  began  to  rise,  37, 
642. 
—The  condition  of  this  region  when  the 

coal  now  found  there  was  made,  644. 
— The  advantage  which  results  from  the 
moumain  range   being   low  in    New 
■  York,  458,  656,  658. 


758 


INDEX. 


Atlantic  Slope  [coDtiniied]. 
— The  advantage  which  results  from  the 

monntains  ending   in    northern    Ala- 
bama, 645. 
— How  the  coal  was  improved  while  the 

mountains  were  being  raised,  644. 
— Why   New  England  was  not  as  fertile 

as  regione  further  south,  643. 
—How  the  soil  along  the  Alleghanies  was 

formed,  643. 
— The  soil  of  the  coast  from  New  York 

to  Florida,  644,  659. 
— The  future  of  New  England  and  of  the 

coast  from  Virginia  south,  661,  662. 
— The   industrial  development  of  New 

York  and  Pennsylvania.  657,  659. 
— The    commercial    advantages    of    the 

Atlantic  States,  483,  658. 
—The  manufactures    of   the  East,  430, 

432. 
— The'growth  of  the  West  depended  on 

the  activity  and  wealth  of  the  East,  649. 
— The  capital   of   the  East  was  largely 

drawn  from  the  resources  of  the  West, 

666. 
—The    kind  of    people  the    East  sent 

West,  648. 
—The  character   of  the  people  of  the 

Atlantic  Slope,  263,  645. 
—This  region  leads  the  thought  of  the 

country,  668. 
— The  intelligence  and  capital  of  Eastern 

men  will  make  thum  future  leaders  of 

the  country,  669. 
Ayllon,  de,  A    Spaniard    who  visited 

South  Carolina  in  1520, 170. 
Azotc,  It  means  ''  without  life."— Azoic 

Kocks  contain  no  remains  of  animals 

or  plants,  13- 
— Why  these  rocka  cannot  produce  a  fer- 
tile soil,  50,  7*0. 
AztecH,  The  civilized  race  ruling  Mexico 

when  it  was  conquered  by  Cortez,  566. 


—Their  origin  and  ancient  home,  571. 
—Legends  of  the  •■'  Seven  cities  of  Cibo- 
la." 557,  567. 
Basin  of  the  Mississippi,  How  it  was 
formed,  37. 
—The  coal  fields  of  this  Basin,  66. 
—The  size  of  the  Basin  and  its  varioae 

divisions,  82. 
—Central  California  as  a  Valley  or  Basin, 

547. 
—The  Parks,  or  Basins,  of  Colorado,  586. 
—The  Utah  and  Upper  Columbia  Valleys* 

590,  591. 
—The    Area    of    the    Upper   Columbia 

Basin,  594. 
—The  farming  lands  in  this  Basin,  596. 
Banks,  Gen.,  His   expedition    up    Red 

River,  384. 
Barrows,  Prehistoric  Mounds  in  Eng- 
land, 128. 
Bartram,    A    botanist    who    traveled 
through  the  Southern  Valley  in  1777, 
227. 
Behring-*8  Straits,  They  are  believed 
to  have  been  closed  at  some  geological 
periods,  51. 
Benbaui,  Capt.,  A  pioneer  of  Eeatacky. 

His  adventures,  227. 
Bible  record    of  Creation  and  that    of 

Science,  33. 
Bellefontaine,  111.    When  it  was  set- 
tled, 230. 
Bienville,  A  French  Governor  of  Louis- 
iana, 193. 
Biloxi,  The  first  French  settlement  of 

Louisiana,  181. 
BirdSj  Their  place  among  animals,  72. 
—They  appear  to  have  sprung  from  Rep- 
tiles, 76. 
—The  first  traces  of  birds  in  the  rocks, 
76. 
Blount,    Wm.,  The  first  Governor   of 
Tennessee  Territory,  235. 


INDEX. 


759 


Boone,  Daniel,  Explored  Kentucky  in 

1769,  222. 

—He  founded  Boonesborough  in  1775, 2»4. 

—Hie  capture  by  the  Indians  iu  1778,227. 

—He  was  a  good  specimen  of  pioneer 

virtues,  326. 

Boqnet,  Col.,  A  British  officer  in  Pon- 

tiac'a  War,  198. 
Boonesborongb,   Ey.,  A  proprietary 

Legislature  met  there  in  1775,  268. 
Bowling  Green,  Ey.,  Its  importance 

in  the  Civil  War,  337. 
Brain  of  the  Mound  Builders  as  to  size, 

133,  156. 
BwHgg,  Gen.,  An  eminent  Confederate 

officer,  380,  383. 
Bonrboarg;,  The  Abbe  Brasseur  de,  A 

Spanish  priest  in  Mexico,  150. 
Bracldock,  Gen.,  His  defeat  near  Pitts- 
burgh, 189. 
Bradstreet,  Col.,  A  British   officer  in 

Pontiac's  War,  198. 
Brondhead,  Col.,  A  pioneer   of  Ken- 
tucky, 230. 
Brltlsb  America    (See  Dominion  of 
Canada),  All  of  North  America  north 
of  the  United  States,  except  Alaska, 
690, 699. 
British  Columbia,  The   Province    of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  on  tbe  Pacific 
coast,  530,  705. 
—Its  geological  features,  595,  598,  707. 
— The  character  of  its  soil  and  climate, 

707. 
— Deposits  of  coal  and  gold  in  it,  708. 
—The  fisheries  of  the  Pacific  coast,  710. 
—The    future    awaiting   this    Province, 
718. 
British  Islands  forming  the  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Their  po- 
sition and  latitude,  721,  735. 
— The  size  of  the  various  divisions,  721, 
722. 


—Their  population  in  1800,  734. 

—Their  geological  formation  and  natural 

resources,  723. 
—The  origin  of  the  people  of  England, 

724. 
— The  character  of  the  ruling  race  and 

their  institutions,  726,  730. 
— The  gradual  development  of  free  gov- 
ernment, 728,  732. 
—The   colonies   of  England   rule  them- 
selves, 733. 
British    Government,    Its    Indian 
Policy  in  America,  203,  217. 
—Its   considerate    treatment  of    French 
Canadians,  680. 
Bnell,  Gen.,  A   Federal  officer  in  the 

Civil  War,  379. 
Bnll  Run,  The  first  great  battle  of  the 

Civil  War,  375. 
Buffalo  on  the  plains  of  the  West,  5S1, 

706. 
Burnt    t'orn,    A    battle   of  the  Creek 

War,  214. 
Burr,  Aaron,  Why  his  treason  failed, 

271,  520. 
By  rd.  Col.,  A  British  officer  in  the  West 

during  the  Revolutionary  War,  228. 
Cabinet,  The  chief  executive  officers  of 
a  Government,  685. 
—The  daties  of  the  Cabinet  in  a  Parli- 
amentary   Government   like   Canada, 
685. 
—The  power  at  the  command  of  the  Eng- 
lish Cabinet,  747. 
Cape  Breton,  An  island  forming  part 

of  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  704. 
Cobequld  mountains.  The  principal 

range  In  Nova  Scotia,  704. 
Cahokla,  An  early  settlement  iu  Illinois, 
opposite  St.  Louis,  on  the  "American 
Bottom"  or  river  flat,  122. 
California,  Its  discovery  and  settlement 
by  the  Spanish,  626. 


760 


INDEX. 


California  [continned]. 

— ItB  condition  under  Mexican  rule,  627. 

—When  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
United  States,  630. 

—The  discovery  of  placer  gold,  360.  630. 

—Its  organization  and  admission  as  a 
State  in  the  Union,  633. 

— How  Anglo-American  character  is  de- 
veloped there,  632. 

— Its  promising  future,  600,  640. 

—Surface,  soil  and  resources  (see  Agri- 
culture). 
Canada,  The  Dominion  of.  Contains  the 
oldest  rocks  known,  697. 

— Its  coldest  regions  had  formerly  a  very 
warm  climate,  696. 

—The  theory  of  man^s  first  appearance 
there,  698. 

—The  proportion  of  fertile   and    sterile 
land,  699. 

— Its  three  systems  of  mountain   eleva- 
tion, 700. 

—The     Rocky    Mountains    and    Pacific 
Slope.  705,  707. 

—Its  early  settlement  by  the  French.  191, 
675. 

— French  rule  not  favorable  to  freedom 
676. 

—The  English  Conquest  of  Canada,  679. 

—Treatment  of  French  settlers  by  the 
English,  68a. 

—The  Two  Canadas  from  1840  to  1867, 
681. 

—The  confederation   of  four    Provinces 
into  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  689. 

—It  finally  embraces  all  British  America 
690. 

— The   form  of  the  Dominion    Govern- 
ment, 691. 

—The  character  of  the   citizens  of  the 
Dominion,  692. 

—The  probable  future  of  the  Dominion, 
693,  718. 


—The  development  of  wealth  at  and  af- 
ter  confederation,  712. 

—Its  relations  with  the  United  States, 
468,  674,  692. 

—Future  industrial  relations  of  the  two 
countries,  530. 
Canals,  When  the  canals  of  England  were 
made,  738. 

—Estimated  value  of  English  canals 
749. 

—The  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal  in 
New  York,  2.54. 

—The  canals  of  the  United  States  in 
1850,256,459. 

—Ship  canals  in  Canada,  458,  686. 

—Ship  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Pan 
ama,  490. 

— Irrigating  canals  of  Prehistoric  Ari- 
zonians,  563. 
Canons,  Deep  cuttings  of  streams  in  the 
Rockv    Mountains  are   so-called,  553, 
585. 

— The  Grand  Cafion  of  the  Colorado  in 
Arizona,  554. 

—The  caflons  of  Montana  streams,  678. 
Casa  Grande  (Spanish  words  meaning 
Great  House),  Ruins  of  a  large  build- 
ing near  the  Gila  River,  Arizona,  563. 
Cascades,  The  continuation  of  the  Sierra 
Mevada  Range  of  Mountains  is  so 
called  in  Oregon  and  Washington.  576, 
591. 

—They  become  the  Coast  Range  of  Brit' 
ishColumbia,  598,  671. 
Cenozoic,  means  Recent  Life  from  two 
Greek  words,  43. 

— Time,  is  that  in  which  the  rocks  con- 
taining the  remains  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals like  those  now  living  were  formed 
46,  48,  68. 

—Period,  The  animals  of  that  time  oa 
the  "Plains,"  78. 


INDEX. 


761 


Cenozoic  [continued]. 
—The  length  of  this  period  of  time  in 

years,  544. 
Central  America,  How  its  moantaine 

affect  the  rainfall  of  the  Mississippi 

Valley,  86. 
— The   ancient    ruins  found  there,  127, 

145. 
— Supposed  connection  of  Mound  Build- 
ers with  the  rains  of  this  region,  151, 

153. 
—The  sculpture  on  these  ruins,  13.3, 151. 
— How  the  activities  of  the  Mississippi 

Valley  will  develop  Central  America, 

531. 
CbamplaiD,  Slear   de,  The  founder 

and  first  Governor  of  French  Canada, 

181,675. 
— His    vast    plans    for   French    rule  in 

America,  176. 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.     Its  Importance 

in  the  Civil  War,  377. 
Chemistry,  It  assists  the  geologist  in 

his  studies,  30,  34. 
—Its  office  in  the  formation  of  rocks,  41, 

89,  92. 
—The  mysterious  character  of  chemical 

force,  89. 
—Its  great  activity  on  the  Pacific  Slope, 

614. 
—How  it  was  employed  to  collect  veins 

of  gold  and  silver,  547. 
—It  produced  different  results  at  different 

times,  90. 
Cherokees,  The  original  location  of  that 

Indian  trihe,  200. 

—Their   capture   of  Fort   Loudon,  and 

defeat  by  Col.  Grant,  195. 
—Their  wars  with  Tennessee  pioneers, 

227.  236,  339. 
Chicago,  It  is  first  visited  by  the  French, 

178. 


—Fort   Dearborn  and  the  Massacre   in 

1812,  212. 
—It  becomes  a  great  railroad  center,  256, 

260. 
—Its  population  in  1870  and  later.  434. 
—Its  relations  to  the  Southwest,  497. 
Chillicothe,  Ohio,  was  a  center  of  the 

Mound  Builders,  135,  148. 
Chlchimecs,    Wild    Indian    tribes     so 

called  by  the  Toltecs,  153. 
Chicbasanrs,    An  Indian  tribe  of   the 
South,  164,  200. 
—Their  successful  defiance  of  the  French, 
192. 
Chlciiamaag:a,     Near      Chattanooga, 

TeuD.,  383. 
Chinook,  A  warm  winter  wind  of  Mon- 
tana, 579. 
Choctaws,  An  Indian  tribe  on  the  Lower 

Mississippi,  300. 
Cholnla  Mound,  near  Mexico  city,  of 

great  size,  145. 
Churches  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  in 
different  years,  361,  473. 
— Usefulness  of  the  priests  of  the  Catho- 
lic Chnrch  in  Canada,  676. 
Cibola,  Story  of  Pudre  Niza  relating  to 

its  "Seven  Cities,"  558,  567. 
Cincinnati,  The  date  of  its  settlement, 
234. 
—The   first  Ohio  newspaper  published, 

236. 
— Its  early  progress  In   manufacturing, 
362. 
Cities,  The  connection  of  their  increase 
with  the  use  of  steam  in  manufacture 
and  travel,  365, 434. 
— The  per   cent,  of    the  population    of 
the  United  States  living  in  cities  at 
different  times,  455. 
— Their   comparative    growth  East   and 

West,  465. 
— Prehistoric  cities  of  Arizona,  564. 


762 


INDEX. 


Cities  [continued]. 
— Prehietoric  cities  of  Central  America, 

567. 
—The    future    of  cities   on   the  Pacific 

Slope,  6-J5. 
ClTlllzation,  Where  it  commenced  in 

America,  115,  149. 
— The  Indians  were  never  civilized,  114, 

131. 
—Why  the  Amazon  Valley  has  not  pro- 
moted it,  109. 
—It  has  been  assisted  by  the  MisBisaippi 

Valley,  119. 
— Its  progress  in  Europe  during  the  three 

centuries    following   the  discovery   of 

America,  168. 
— The  Anglo-American  race  leads  in  civ- 
ilization, 184. 
—How    the  people  of  the  West  proved 

this,  328,  495. 
—How  American  principles  work  it  out, 

538. 
—The  agency  of  coal  in  homan  progress, 

94,  486. 
Civil  War,  Thecansea  leading  to  it,  282, 

374. 
— The  part  taken  in  it  by  the  Mississippi 

Valley,  375. 
—Its  disastrous  efiect  on  the  South  for  a 

time,  .190. 
— The  more  favorable  condition  of  the 

country  after  the  War,  412. 
Clarke,  Oen.    Georg^e    Rogers,  A 

pioneer  of  Kentucky,  225,  270. 
— His  expedition  in  the  *'  Illinois  Coun- 
try," 227. 
Clarke's  Fork  of  the  Columbia  River, 

694. 
Clay,  Henry,  The  Kentucky  orator  and 

Statesman,  831. 
Climate,  It  appears  to  have  been  about 

the  same  over  all  the  earth  till  the  Great 

Coal  Age,  65,  696. 


— It  probably  continued  warm  far  to  the 
north  till  the  Rocky  Mountains  were 
raised,  49,  67. 

— How  the  storing  of  coal  changed  the 
air,  46,  76. 

— The  eJTect  of  winds  on  climate,  37, 103. 
579,  595,  705. 

— The  climate  of  England  improved  by 
the  Gulf  Stream,  722. 
Coal,  How  and  when  the  best  was  made, 
65. 

— It  was  mostly  derived  from  the  air,  76. 

— When  the  lignite  coal  of  the  West  was 
made,  46, 708. 

—The  uses  of  coal  shown  in  the  greatness 
of  England,  93. 

—Statistics  of  coal  production  in  Eng- 
land, 7.37. 

—The  coal  area  of  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
94. 

— ThelignltecoaloftlieWestern"Plains," 
49. 

—The  coal  found  on  the  Atlantic  Slope 
644. 

—The  production  of  coal  in  the  United 
States  in  1873,  426. 

—The  coal  of  the  Arctic  regions,  696. 

— The  amount  of  coal  in  Nova  Scotia  and 
New  Brunswick,  704. 

— The  coal  in  the  western  part  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  708. 
Coast  Rang^e  of  Mountains  in  California, 
Oregon  and  Washington,  598. 

—Their  character  in  California,  608,  612. 

—The  Cascades  represent  them  in  British 
Columbia,  707. 
Const  of  tbe  Atlantic,  643.    (See  At- 
lantic Slope.) 
Coast  or  the  Pacific,  598.     (See  Pa- 
cific Slope.) 
Colleges  lu  the  United  States,  354, 
358,  478. 


INDEX. 


763 


Colorado  PIateaa>  Its  position   and 

Rivers,  554,  584. 
Colorado  River,  Its  length  and  great 

canon,  454. 
Colorado  State.  Its  situation  and  Sur- 
face, 584. 

— Its  coal  area  and  annual  production  of 
coal,  94,  436. 

— Its  resources  in  metals  and  soil,  584, 
586. 

—Its  organization  and  Constitution,  312. 
Columbia  River,  Its  navigation,  548, 
598. 

— Its  two  great  branches  east  of  the  Cas- 
cades, 594. 

— Its  branches   west  of  the   Cascades, 
599. 
Comancbes,  An  Indian  tribe  of  Texas, 

165. 
Commerce  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  482, 
666. 

— Of  England,  France  and  the  United 
States,  483,  716. 

—Of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  490,  588. 

—Of  the  Pacific  coast  in  the  U.  S.,  600, 
640. 

— Its  present  and  future  in  Canada,  716. 

— The  commercial  greatness  of  England, 
93,488,740. 

—The  facilities  for  it  in   the   Missis- 
sippi Valley,  97, 457. 

— The  use  of  flatboats  on  Western  Rivers, 
246. 

— Its  beginnings  in  the  West  on  a  large 
scale,  251. 

— The  commerce  of  the  Rivers  and  Lakes 
in  1843,253,257. 

— The  growth  of  Western  commerce  in 
later  years,  460,  489. 

—The  future  of  commerce  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  462. 
Confederate  States,  existing  during 
the  Civil  War,  375,  387. 


Confederation  of  t'aiiada  in  1867, 
688. 

—Additions  to  the  Dominion  afterwards, 
69U. 

—The  character  of  this  union,  639. 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  Its  rela- 
tions  to   States  and  Territories,  286, 
288. 

—What  it  may  not  do,  287. 

—The  powers  conferred  on  it,  288.  ' 

—The  closing  legislation  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  274,  284. 
Conifers,  Trees  that  bear  cones,  like  the 
pine, 66. 

—When  they  first  appeared  on  the  earth, 
68. 
Constitution   of   the   United   States, 
when  produced,  283. 

—Compromises  were  unavoidable,  284. 

—It  is  not  wholly  contained  in  the  writ- 
ten instrument,  282 

—The  idea  of  its  preamble,  284. 

— The  relations  it  establishes  between 
the  General  and  State  Governments, 
285. 

— The  guarantees  it  gave  to  the  States, 
285. 

—Its  guarantees  to  all  the  citizens  of 
the  States,  287. 

—The  powers  it  prohibited  to  the  States, 
288 

—The  powers  it  subtracted  from  the  au- 
thority of  the  States,  288. 

— The  powers  given  to  the  President, 
290. 

—The  office  of  the  United  States  Courts, 
290. 

—Its  theory  of  popular  rights  and  how  it 
was  applied,  291. 
Constitutions  of  the  States  of  the  His- 
sissippi  Valley,  292. 

—General  review  of  the  Constitutions, 
313. 


764 


INDEX. 


ConHtlintions  [continaed], 
—Of    the    Territories     as     successively 

formed,  281. 
—Constitution  of  Canada  by  the  "North 

America    Act,"  689. 
—Of  England,  as  settled  in  1688,  TK,  747. 
— Anglo-Americans     adopted     English 

principles,  267. 
Constitutional  beginnings  of  pioneers 

in  the  West,  269. 
—Great  need   of  such  organiisation    in 

Kentucky  and  Tennessee  in  early  days, 

271. 
— History  of  the   "State  of  Franklin,'^ 

232,  272. 
— Numerous  Conventions  In  Kentucky, 

233. 
—Organization  north  of  the  Ohio,  234, 

332. 
—Summary  of  constitutional  results  in 

the  West,  319. 
—The  wise  and  considerate  treatment  of 

the  West  by  eastern  statesmen,  314. 

—The  general  character  of  Amendments 
to  State  Constitutions,  316. 

—How  euch  Amendments  are  provided 
for,  317. 
Copper,  The  time  when  it  was  deposited 
in  the  rocks, 91. 
—Mines  of   Lake   Superior  visited  by 

Mound  Builders,  135, 144. 
—Its  prodnction  in  the  U.  S.  in  1874,  426. 
Corals,  Uow  they  make  rocks,  72. 
Corintb,  Mississippi,  in  the  Civil  War, 

380. 
Cotton,  The  great  profit  the  South  gained 
from  it  in  early  times,  244,  340. 
—It  will  always  be  the  staple  of  some 

States,  449. 
— Its  percent,  of  increase  and  proportion 
to  other  exports  at  different  times,  454, 
464. 


—Where  the  manufacture  of  cotton  began, 

739. 
—English  Imports  and  exports  of  it,  740. 
Cortez,  The  Spanish  conqueror  of  Mex- 
ico, 170,  626. 
—His  captive  soldiers  sacrificed  on  an 

Aztec  mound,  127,  145. 
—His  exploration  of  the  Gulf  of  Califor- 
nia, 626. 
Creeks   or   Muscogees,  Indians    of  the 
South,  114,  200. 
—Their  hostility  to  the  settlements,  214, 

237. 
—The  Creek  war  of  1813  and  1814, 114. 
—Jackson  conquers    and   concludes   a 
treaty  with  them,  216. 
Cremation  practiced  by  Mound  Build- 
ers, 127,  147. 
Crusade,  Spanish   discoveries   brought 
the  spirit  of  it  to  America,  167. 
-De  Soto's  expedition  into  the  Valley,  a 
crusade,  171. 
Cryptogams,  The  lowest  of  the  two 
great  classes  of  plants,  64. 
— Coal  was  chiefly  made  from  trees  of  this 

class,  65. 
—Plants  of  the  lowest  forms  of  thisclass 
appeared  first,  68. 
CrOKban,  Col.  Geo.,  British  Indian  Agt. 

In  the  Ohio  Valley,  189. 
Cumberland  Road  from  the  Potomac 

to  the  Ohio,  243,  255,  666. 
Cycads,  trees  of  the  higher  class,  resem- 
bling Palms  introduced   in  the  Coal 
Age,  57. 
—The   Mesozoic,  or  Middle  Period,  is 
called  the  Age  of  Cycads,  68. 
Dakota,  a  part  of  the  Western  Plains. 
Its  condition  before  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains were  fully  raised,  46,  48, 102. 
—The    Southwestern   part    was  earlier 
raised,  100. 


INDEX. 


765 


Dnkota  [cnntinned]. 
— Sioax    family  of  Indian  tribes  of  the 
Northwest.  163,  165,  201,  583. 
Dearborn,   Fort,  at  mouth  of  Chicago 

River,  abandoned  In  1812,  212. 
Delta  of  the  Mississippi.    Its  area,  83. 
Detroit,  Mich.,  Settled  by  the  French 
and  given  up  to  the  English,  196. 
— Pontiac  besieges  it,  197. 
— Surrender  to  the  British  by  Gen.  Hull, 
1812,  2i;. 
Diatoms,  Minute  vegetable  growth  se- 
creting Silica  and  making  rock,  68. 
D'iberTille  Settled  the  French  in  the 

South  in  1699, 181, 187. 
Dlckeson,   Dr.,  Explored  Mounds  in 

Mississippi,  123. 
Dinwiddle,  Colonial  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, 189. 
Dnnmore,  Lord,  Colonial  Governor  of 

Virginia,  204. 
Daqnesne,  Ft.,  Built  by  the  French  on 

theeite  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  195. 
De  Solo,  Ferdinand,  Spanish  Governor 
of  Cuba,  makes  an  exploration  across 
the  Southern  Valley,  171. 
—His  inhuman  treatment  of  the  natives, 

171. 
—His  desperate  battle  at  Maubila,  172. 
—His   hopeless  wanderings  and  death, 

173. 
—Why  he  merited  his  doom,  173,265. 
Dominion  of  Canada,  (See  Canada), 
689. 
■  Donelson,  Ft.,  Kentucky,  In  the  Civil 
War,  375,  377. 
Drift,  The  vast  quantity  of  stones  and 
mud  produced  by  the  wearing  of  the 
ice  of  the  Great  Ice  Age,  51. 
—How  it  was  diatrlbnted  afterwards,  B2, 

81,  112. 
—The  Drift  in  Canada,  701. 


Declaration     of    Independence, 

334. 
Democracy,  Its  success    in   America, 

509. 
—Progress  of  Democracy  in  Europe,  512. 
Early,  Gen.,  A  confederate  officer  in  the 

Civil  War.  385. 
Earib,  The    accounts  of    its  origin   in 

the  Bible,  33. 
—Science  furnishes  the  details,  the  Bible 

only  outlines,  34. 
— The  process  of  formation  according  to 

the  "Nebular  Theory,"  35, 41. 
— How  land  was  raised  above  the  sea,  36. 
— The  power  that  raised  mountains  and 

its  operation,  36. 
— The  first  continent  raised  was  the  West- 
ern, 37. 
—Three   Mountain-making   Periods,  38, 

700. 
—Study   of  the    structure   of  the  earth 

shows  the  vast  power  residing  in  heat 

and  cold,  in  chemical  and  vital  forces, 

81. 
— The    Earth  is  the   embodiment  of    a 

thought— a  book  for  reading,  60,  79. 
— It  was  constructed  under  the  guidance 

of  intelligence  and  law,  517. 
Education,  Hindrances  to  it  in  ancient 

times,  353. 
—Its   beginnings  among   Germans  and 

Anglo-Saxons,  353. 
—Its  progress  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  .354. 
—Its  advance  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 

355. 
— Common  School  education  in  the  States 

of  the  West,  357. 
—Statistics  in  1850  and  1860,  359. 

—How  great  events  educate  men,  27, 469. 
470. 

—How  the  basiness  activity  of  one  gen- 
eration has  educated  it,  470. 


766 


INDEX. 


Education  [contlsned], 
—The  Civil  War  etimulated  edacational 

agencies,  478. 
— The   effect  of     popular    education   in 

America,  479. 
— Education  in  the    newer  States,  480, 

481. 
—The  education  of  AmericauB  continued 

more  thoroughly  by  difficulties  in  the 

West,  636,  637,  638. 
— Improvement  of  education  in  the  Can- 

adas,  687. 
—The   constant  improvement  of  educa- 
tional systems,  535. 
—The  securities  which  the  past  and  the 

present  give  for  the  future,  535. 
—The  best  possible  education,  523. 
East,  The,  How  it  was  joined  to  the  West, 

255. 
—It  is  a  leader  in  business  and  intelli- 
gence, 666,  669. 
Electric     l.tgbt,   669— Electric    Tele- 
graph, 423,  486,  637. 
En$;lnnd,  Its  area  and  population,  721, 

722. 
—Its  surface,  climate,  soil  and  natural 

re60urces,722. 
—Its  early  inhabitants,  724. 
—The  basis  of  its  institntions   derived 

from  Germany,  726. 
—The  thoroughness  of  character  of  the 

people,  730. 
—Its  condition  in  1800, 734. 
—The  great  industrial  progress  np  to  1876, 

740. 
—The  wealth   of  England  in  1865  and 

1875,  749. 
— Growth  of  personal  property  and  the 

relation  of  the  Public  Debt  to  It,  745. 
—The  future  of  English  progress,  492, 

741,751. 
Eocene,  Its  meaning— the  "Dawn  of  the 

Recent,"  48. 


— It  was  the  first  era  of  the  Tertiary,  or 
first  division  of  Cenozoic  or  recent 
time,  48. 

—The  horses  of  the  Eocene  Age,  78. 
Estill,  Capt.  James,  A  Kentucky  pioneer 

killed  by  Indians,  230. 
Etcliowee,  The  site  of  a  battle  with  the 

Cherokeea,  165. 
Europe  in  geological  times,  51.  78,698, 
724. 

—Primitive  men  and  animals  of  Europe, 
112,  724, 

—Character  of  the  modern  races  of  Eu- 
rope, 27, 263,  323,  501. 

—How  their  fear  of  each  other  embar- 
rasses progress,  486. 

—The  Teutonic  or  German racein  Europe, 
823. 

—The  origin  and  growth  of  Democracy  in 
Europe,  509. 

—How  aristocracy  embarrassed,  its  pro- 
gress, 451. 

—The  progress  of  popular  liberty  since 
1850,  512. 

—The  harmony  and  interaction  of  pro- 
gress in  America  and  Europe,  516. 

—How  England  acquired  industrial  lead 
in  Europe,  735. 
Farms  and  Farming.    (See  Agriculture.) 
Ferns,  plants  of  very  simple  structure,  of 
which  much  of  the  coal   of  the  Great 
Coal-making  Age  was  made,  64. 
Feudal   System.  Feudalism,  176,  353, 
727. 

— Its  introduction  into  Canada,  676. 
Feudal  Knights  of  Chivalry  and  Ro- 
mance. Americans  are  descended  from 
the  same  stock  and  possess  their  char- 
acter, 263. 
Federal  Government,  army,  etc. ,  Belong- 
ing to  the  United  States  as  opposed  to 
the  Confederate  or  seceding  Govern- 
ment, 375,  393. 


INDEX. 


767 


First   Principles  of  Political  Science 
more  perfectly  developed  Id  the  Wept, 
334. 
Five  Nations,  The  Indian  Confederacy 

of  New  York.    (Bee  IroquoiB.) 
Florida,  Its  diecovery,  origin  of  ite  name 
and  early  explorations,  170. 
—The  Atlantic  CoaBlof  Florida,  660. 
Floyd.   Gen.,   Commander    of    Georgia 

troops  in  Creek  War,  212,  215. 
Franklin.  An  independent  State  organ- 
ized in  Tenn.  in  1T84, 272. 
Franklin,  Benj.  A  printer  and  States- 
man of  the  Revolution.    AsAat.  ofthe 
Colonies  in  England  he  wrote  on  the 
"Ohio  Settlement,"  267. 
Frankfort  became  the  capital  of  Ken- 
tucky in  1792,  235. 
Franee,   The  liberal    but    intermittent 
character  of  progress  in  it,  183. 
—In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, 675. 
—The  extent  of  its  commerce,  488. 
— The  Revolution  of  1792  and  its  results, 

515,  520. 
—The  French  Republic  of  1870, 512, 513. 
FraEer  River,  in  British  Columbia,  707. 
Frencb,  an  explanation  of  their  change- 
ful history,  175. 
—The  vast  plans  of  French  leaders  in 
Canada  and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  176. 
—The  settlement  of  Louisiana,  181. 
—Their  Indian  Policy.    Its  skill  and  suc- 
cess, 177, 191. 
—The  cause  of  their  failure  with  South- 
ern Indians,  192. 
—French  Colonial  Policy.    Its  mistakes, 

265,  675. 
—Why  the  French  were  not  successful  as 

pioneers,  182, 678. 
—Their  contest  with  the  English  for  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  189. 


— The    French   in  Canada  acquire  self- 
government,  680. 
— The  French  not  inclined  to  emigrate, 
182. 
Geology,  How  it  began  as  a  science,  28. 
—Its  aids  and  progress,  30. 
—The  "Record"  of  the  earth's  origin  and 
history,  as  read  by  Geology,  35. 
Glacial  Period,  or  Age  of  Ice.     Its 
causes,  50,697. 

—  Its  powerful  surface  effect  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  51,  644,  701. 

-Its  effect  in  Montana,  571. 
—How  it  affected  New  England,  644. 
—Its  work  in  Canada,  701 
—It  produces  fertility  in  England,  724. 
Georgia,  De  Soto's  passage  through  it, 
172. 
—The  Indian  tribes  found  there    later, 
200. 

—  Its  settlement  by  Gen.  Oglethorpe,  192. 
—Its  settlements  attacked  by  the  Chero- 

kees,  227. 
—The  State  claims  the  Territory  of  the 

Creeks,  237. 
—The  Civil  War  in  this  State,  384. 
— The   Atlantic  coast  and  the  future  of 
that  region,  660 

Germans,  or  Teutonic  Race  of  Central 
Europe,  333. 
— Angles  and  Saxons  were  German  tribes, 
725. 

Germany,  Took   the    lead    in    general 
modern  education,  353. 

Gettysburg,  Pa  ,  The  result  of  the  bat- 
tle there  in  the  Civil  ft'ar,  375. 

Gila    River   and   Valley    in    Colorado, 
554. 

Glrty,  Simon,  Indian  Anient  of  the  Brit- 
ish Government  in  1772,  225. 

Gist,  Christopher,  The  Agent  of  the  Ohio 
Company  in  1772,  189. 


768 


liCDEX. 


Giflen,  Robert,  An  English  Statistician, 

744. 
Glaclnrin,  MaJ.,  British  Commander  at 

Dulroit  in  1764,  197. 

Grant.  Col.,  A  British  officer  who  chas- 
tised the  Cherokees,  195. 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.  Feileral  Commander 
in  the  Civil  War,  .375, 379,  383. 

Grave  Creek,  W.  Va.  The  mound  de- 
scribed, 129. 

Greenville.  0.,The  Indian  treaty  made 
there, 237. 

Golden  Gate,  the  passage  from  the 
Pacific  to  San  Francisco  Bay,  Cal., 
602,  608. 

Great  Divide.  (See  Rocky  Mountain 
Plateau.) 

Great  Britain,  Its  divisions,  731.  (See 
England.) 

Great  Valley.  (See  Mississippi  Valley.) 

Green  County,  Teun.,  organized  in 
1783,  235. 

Green  Bay,  Wisconsin.  Was  early  set- 
tled by  the  French,  177,677. 

Hardin,  Col.,  of  Ky,,  Peace  Commis- 
sioner, killed  by  Indians,  1792,  235. 

Harraar,    Gen.,    Commanded     troops 

against  Indians,  1790,  200. 
Harrison,  Gen.  W.  H.,  Governor  of  In- 
diana Territory,  212. 
—Commands  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe, 

in  1811,  212. 
—Invades  Upper  Canada,  and  gains  the 

Battle  of  the  Thames,  213. 
Harrod,  Capt.  James,  settled  Harrods- 

burgh,  Kentucky,  in  1774,  224. 
Heat,    Its    intimate     connection     with 

changes  on  the  earth,  35,  41,  47. 
— The  early  rocks  were  changed  by  it,  58, 

644,  700. 
Henderson,    Richard,    Organized    the 

Transylvania  Company,  224,  267. 


Hennepin,  A  French  Franciscan  priest, 
sent  by  LaSalle  to  explore  the  Ifpiler 
Mississippi,  180. 

Henry,  I'atrick,  Governor  of  Virginia 
during  the  Revolution,  206. 

Henry, Fort,  near Wheeling,Va., attacked 
by  Indians  in  1777.  Its  heroic  defense, 
225. 
— A  Confederate  fortress  on  the  Tennes- 
see, Kentucky,  Its  capture  by  Grant 
in  1862,  378. 

Henglst  and  Horsa,Saxon  chiefs  who  first 
settled  in  Britain,  725. 

Holland,  Its  Commerce  in  16th and  17th 
Centuries,  733. 

Holder,  Capt.,  Defeated  by  Indians  in 
Kentucky  in  1782,  230. 

Hill,  Fort,  Ohio,  A  fortress  of  the  Mound 
Builders,  119. 

Hood,  Gen.,  A  Confederate  officer  in  the 
Civil  War,  384,  385. 

Holston  River,  in  Tennessee.  The  set- 
tlement on  It,  223,  225. 

Huguenots,  French  Protestants,  169, 
324,  675. 

Horse  Sboe,  An  Indian  battle-ground 
closing  the  Creek  War,  214. 

Hull,  Gen.,  U.  S.  commander  who  sur- 
rendered Detroit  in  1812,  212. 

Huron,  Lake,  The  Jesuit  Missions  on  it, 

139,176. 
Ice  Floe.    (See  Age  of  Ice.) 
Idabo,  Its  location  and  surface,  594,  596, 

615. 
Illinois,  Area  of  Illinois  compared  with 
that  of  England,  721,  722. 
—Its  coal  field,  46,  47,  94. 
— Mounds   near  Mississippi  River,  132, 

135. 
— Marquette  visits  Illinois  Indians,  178^ 
— La  Salle's  Fort  and  trading  post  in  Il- 
linois, 180. 


INDEX. 


769 


minolB  [continued]. 

—The  tribe  of  lUini  or  Illinois  extermi- 
nated, 199. 

—The  British  in  "The  Illinois"  and 
Clarke's  expedition,  205. 

— Early  American  settlement  in  lUfnois, 
230,  232. 

— Growth  of  population  from  1800  to 
1810,242;  from  1815  to  1820,245;  from 
1840  to  1850,  255;  from  1860  to  1860, 
261. 

—Early  Railroads  in  Illinois,  258,  260. 

—Organization  of  State  Government  and 
State  Constitution,  298. 

— Common  School  education  in  the  State, 
357,  475, 

—Agricultural  production  in  Illinois, 
449. 

— Increase  and  proportion  of  manufac- 
tures in  this  State,  433. 
Immieration  into  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley in  the  Heroic  Period,  222. 

—Prom  1795  to  1820,  239  to  249. 

—In  the  Steamboat  Era  (1820  to  1850), 
250  to  256. 

—In  the  Railroad  Era,  257. 

—From  Europe  to  Atlantic  Coaet  in  Co- 
lonial times,  645. 

—French  and  English  immigrants  into 
Canada,  677,  681,719. 

— The  character  of  Anglo-American  im- 
migration to  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
335. 

— Foreign  immigrants  to  America,  346. 

— Character  of  immigrants  to  California, 
632.  639. 
Indian.    The  brain  of  the  modem  In- 
dians, 133, 134, 156. 

— This  race  superior  in  force  of  passion 
and  will  to  the  Mound  Builders  but  un- 
fitted for  developing  a  primitive  civili- 
zation, 156. 

— Why  they  did  not  tend  toward  civiliza- 
tion, 157,  158. 

49 


— How   they   maintained     social    orda* 

amons  themselves,  159. 
— How  the  chiefs  maintained  authority, 

157. 
— The   confederacy   of  the   Iroquois   or 

Five  Nations  of  New  York,  160,  161. 
— The  impossibility  of  really  strong  and 

permanent    confederacies  among   the 

tribes,  161,  198. 
—Traditions   supposed   to    refer  to  the 

Mound  Builders,  161, 162. 
—The  original  home  of  the  race  was  in 

the  Rocky  Mountains,  163,  551,  556. 
—Their  ancient  occupation  of  Montana, 

581,  582. 
—They    have  always   been  savages,  114, 

164, 166. 
—The  races  and  tribes  of  the  Mississippi 

Valley,  164,  165,200. 
—The  hostility  of  these  tribes  to  the  Span- 
iards, 170,  172, 173. 
— The     friendliness    of    most    northern 

tribes  to  the  French,  177, 178, 194. 
— The  southern  tribes  favor  the  English, 

193,  194. 
—French  and  Indian  wars  on  the  Lower 

Mississippi,  192, 193. 
— Why  Americans  failed  to  sympathize 

with  the  Indian,  184. 
—How  the  order  and  progress  of  Ameri- 
can settlement  troubled  and  angered 

the  Indian,  185,  186,  188. 
—American  purchases  of  Indian  lands 

were  generally  forced,  201. 
—The  efforts  of  the  British  Govemment 

to  restrain  Colonial  aggression,  202. 
— The  beginning  of  the  Revolution  opens 

the  West  to  unterrified  pioneers,  204. 
— British  Agents  encourage  Indian  hos- 
tility, 205. 
—The  fierce  determination  of  OUo  Ib 

diaus,  306. 


770 


INDEX. 


Indian  [centlDned]. 

—The  close  of  the  Indian  Wars  of  the 
18lh  Century,  207. 

—A  peace  of  fifteen  years  renders  the  In- 
dian cuuae  hopeiesB,  200. 

—The    Indian    Confederacy    formed    by 
Tecumseh,  210. 

—Its  failure  by  the  battles  of  Tippecanoe 
and  the  Thames,  212. 

—The  heroic  effort  of  the  cruel  Creeks 
ends  in  (allure,  214. 

—The  Seminole  Indian  war,  216. 

—The  numbers  of  the  Indians  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  216. 

—The  chivalnc  idea  on  which  U-  S.  In- 
dian Policy  was  based,  217. 

—Its  mistake  in  assuming  a  fact  that  did 
not  exist,  217. 

—The  actual  treatment  of  Indians  by  the 
Government,  218. 

—The  Indian  Territory  and  Indian  civil- 
ization, 220,221,422. 

—The  unhappy  results  of  the  methods 
adopted,  219. 

—The  approximate  cost  of  this  policy  to 
the  Uovernment,  218, 219. 

—The  necessary  future  policy  and  fate  of 
the  Indian,  220, 221. 

—The  Indians  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexi- 
co, 559,561. 

— The  Indiaus  of  California  and  the  North 
Pucific  coast,  552,  626,  628. 
Incas,  The  rulers  of  Pern,  139, 146, 171. 
Indiana  becomes  a  Territory,  208,  211. 

-Increase  of  population,  242,  255,  256, 
262. 

-Its  organization  and  State  Constitu- 
tion, 294,  295. 
Independence,  How  the  Atlantic  Slope 
promoted  it  in  early  settlers,  645.  646. 

—The  condition  cf  the  West  carried  for- 
ward the  same  tendency,  334,  335,  336. 


Invertebrates,  Animals  withoat  a  ver- 
tebra, or  back  bone,  71,  74. 
Iowa,  When  its  rock  making  ceased,  45. 

—The  Bluff  Soil  or  Loess  found  there,  53, 
101. 

—Growth  of  population    from    1840    to 
186U,  256,  362. 

—Its  organization  as  a  State,  and  Its  Con- 
stitution, 303. 

—Its  food  production,  449. 
Ireland,  Its  situation  and  surface,  721, 

722. 
Irish  People  in  America,  681,  718. 
Iron  Age  in  Europe  and  America,  113. 
(See  Age.) 

—Ore  in  the  United  States,  90. 

—Its  consumption  by  a  country  shows 
the  degree  of  its  civilization,  91, 144. 

— Its   production  in  the  United  States, 
425,  436. 

—Its  production  in  England,  737. 

-Iron  ores  in  Canada  and  England,  709, 
723. 
Iroquois,  Confederacy  of  the  Five  Na- 
tions, of  New  York,  139,  152,  655. 

—Character  of  their  confederacy,  160, 200. 

—Their  hostility  to  the  French,  191,201. 
Irrigation  on  the  Pacific  Slope. 

—By  Prehistoric  residents  in  Arizona, 
563,  565. 

— Uow  Arizona  may  be  improved  by  it, 
572,  616. 

— It  is  necessary  and  easy  in  Montana, 
679. 

—The  wonderful  results  of  irrigation  by 
the  Mormons  of  Utah,  587, 591 .  617. 

—Water  for  irrigation  abundant  in  the 
Upper  Columbia  Basin,  595,  597. 

— Changes  being  made  by  it  in  Southern 
Calilornia,  604,  611. 

—Present  and  future  irrigation  of  Central 
California,  608,  610. 


INDEX. 


771 


Irri§ration  [continued]. 
—How  irrigation  is  equivalent  to  the  use 

of  fertilizers,  614. 
—The  important  changes  in  climate  it 

will  produce,  618. 
— It    is  the  future  resource  of  interior 
British  Columbia,  708. 
Jackson,     Andrew,     a     distinguished 
American  General  who  conducted  the 
Creek  war,  215,  -216,  244,  339. 
Jamestown,  Va.,  First  English  settle- 
ment in  America,  642. 
Japan  Current,  Its  influence  on  the 
climate  of  the  Pacific  Slope, 578,599, 705. 
—The  population  and  productiveness  of 
the  Japan  islands,  611. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  Author  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  334,  520, 647. 
— Fort,  built  by  Gen.  Clarke,  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  229. 
Jesnlts,  Their  enterprise,  skill  and  suc- 
cess with  the  Indians,  176, 182, 186. 
— Their  ardor  and  self  devotion  in  Cana- 
da, 676. 
Jobnson,  Sir  William,  Indian  Commis- 
sioner for  the  British  Government,  199, 
201. 
Johnston, Gen.,  An  eminentConfederate 
officer  in  the  Civil  War,  384. 

Joliet,  The  companion  of  Marquette  in 
the  French  discovery  of  the  Mississippi, 
177, 179. 
Jndiclary,  The  ofBce  of  that  Depart- 
ment of  the  U.  S.  Government,  290. 

—Of  the  States,  includes  the  Judges  and 
Courts  of  the  States.  See  State  Con- 
stitutions, 292. 

—These  were  all  constituted  essentially 
alike,  314. 

—The  State  Judiciary  has  become  gener- 
ally elective,  318.  (See  State  Constitu- 
tions.) 


Kansas,  How  the  "  Bluff  Formation  " 
was  produced  there,  53, 101. 

—The  civil  conflicts  of  its  early  settle- 
ments, 308. 

—Its  State  Constitution,  309. 
Kaskaskia,    An  early  French    settle- 
ment in  niinois,  187,  270,  275. 
Kenbawa  River,  The  Indian  battle 

there,  204. 
Kentnckj.  The  effect  in  it  of  volcanic 
upturning  of  the  rocks  in  geological 
times,  47. 

— Its  mountains  form  a  southern  water- 
shed for  the  Ohio,  82. 

— How  it  comes  to  have  an  abundant 
rainfall,  86. 

—Its  salt,  petroleum,  and  coaJ,  92,  113, 
114 

—The  character  of  its  limestone  ren- 
ders it  fertile,  101. 

—It  was  the  common  hunting  ground  of 
Indian  tribes,  200,  325. 

—Its  exploration  and  settlement  by 
Americans,  222. 

—Romantic  incidents  during  early  set- 
tlement, 225. 

— The  daring  courage  of  the  settlers, 
325. 

—They  laid  the  foundations  of  a  high 
civilization,  239,  328. 

— Their  great  energy  of  self-assertion 
made  them  the  real  rulers  of  the 
West,  330. 

—Its  early  attention  to  education,  365, 
357. 

— The  rapid  increase  of  population,  242, 
245. 

—The  social  habits  of  Eentnckiana  in 
1816,  247. 

— The  early  attempts  to  organize  gov- 
ernment, 233,  268. 

—The  patience  of  the  people  whllo  in 
need  of  local  organization,  271. 


772 


INDEX. 


Kentnchy  (continued]. 
—State  Constitutioa  and  amendments, 

292. 
— ItB  prominent  part  in  the  Civil  War, 

376. 
King's  Monntajn,  in  North  Carolina. 

Defeat  of  the  British  in  1780,  229. 
Kings,  Their  office  among  the  primitive 

Saxons,  727. 
—Norman  Kings  of  England  trespass  on 

English  usages  and  liberties,  727. 
—The  later  Kings  of  England  lose  ar- 
bitrary power,  729,  732. 
KnoxTille,  Tenn.,  When  founded,  235. 
—It  was  the  first  capital  of  Tennessee, 

237. 
Labrador,  The  northeastern  part    of 

North  America,  38,  642.  696 
Laltes,  The  "Flains"once  formeda  Lake 

region,  49. 
—The  Lakes  of  theChamplain  Era  after 

the  Ice  Age,  52. 
—The  deep  rich  Bluff  soil  gathered  by 

lakes,  53. 
—How  the  deep  soil  of  the  Prairies  was 

produced,  84,  85. 
— They  ore  numerous  where  the  oldest 

rocks  are  near  the  surface,  700. 
— ITie  Basins  and  Parks  of  the  Rocky 

Mountains  were  once  beds  of  lakes, 

58G. 
ereat  Lakes  between  the  U.  S.  and 

Canada.— How  they   are  thought  to 

have  been  formed,  51. 
—Their  basin  naturally  associated  with 

the  Mississippi  Valley,  82,  97,  484,  702. 
—Metals  found  about  Lake  Superior,  90. 
-The  most   Ancient  Mountains,  ( the 

Laurentides)    highest    near    Lakes 

Huron  and  Superior,  703. 
— The  value  of  the  connected  chaiu  to 

interior  Commerce,  97,  597,  600. 


—They    were     early    visited    by    the 

French,  176,  180,  194,  682. 
—The  long  line  of  Canadian  navigation 

on  them,  686. 

—Their  natural  significance  realized  in 
part,  457. 

—Beginning  and  growth  of  commerce 
on  them,  180.  459. 

—The  St.  Lawrence  River  and  Lakes  in 
the  future  of  Canada,  717. 

—Close  connection  of  Canada  with  the 

United  States  by  their  means,  695. 

Lake  iit.  Jobn,   in   the   Province  of 

Quebec,  703. 
— Champlain,  during  the  Champlain  Era, 

702. 
Lancaster,  Pa.  The  early  Indian  treaty 

made  there,  188. 
LaSalle,  Robert  Cavalier  de.  The  great 
Explorer,  is  inspired  by  the  report 
of  Marquette  and  Joliet,  179. 

—He  descends  the  Mississippi  to  its 
Mouth,  180. 

—His  misfortunes  and  death,  180. 

—His  character  contrasted  with  that  of 
De  Soto,  265. 
Laugbery,  Col.,  defeated   by  the  In- 
dians in  Kentucky,  230. 
Law  in  nature  has  been  the  same  in  the 
past  as  now,  31. 

—A  law  not  fully  imderstood  deter- 
mined the  outlines  and  general  feat- 
ures of  the  Continents,  36. 

—The  laws  of  Evolution  do  not  explain 
all  known  facts,  59,  60, 61. 

—The  law  of  animal  development,  70, 
71,  73. 

—The  law  of  introduction  of  life  on  the 
earth,  59,  75,  76,  77. 

— The  laws  of  business  are  self-regu- 
lating, 446,  495,  506,  714. 

— All  human  events  are  the  expression 
of  a  Law  of  Progress,  442,  446. 


INDEX. 


773 


Litw  [continned]. 
— American  institutions  are  a  return  to 
First  Principles  or  Natural  Law,  334, 
429,  487,  492,  506. 
—The  law  of  interest  centralizes  or  con- 
solidates   the    sections    and    States 
without  injury  and  without  appeal, 
446,  499.  500. 
—The  law  of  Equilibrium  in  business, 
506,  714. 
lee.  Gen.,  the  most  distinguished  Con- 
federate oflaoer  in  the  Civil  War,  375, 
384. 
I<eiini-Lenap»!<,  Believed  the  original 
stock  of  the  Algonquin  tribes  of  In- 
dians, 161. 
l.exiiigton,  Ey.,  when  it  was  settled, 

228. 
Libraries  in  the  U.  S.  and  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  472,  473. 
Llckingr  River,  in  Ky.    The  British 
and  Indians  reach  the  settlements  by 
it,  228. 
Ucks.    The  Salt  Springs  of  Ey.  were 

so-called,  144,  200. 
Life,  or  the  vital  building  process.    Its 
origin  and  forms,  42,  55. 
—How  long  ago  it  was  introduced  on 

the  earth,  544,  545. 
—Man  is  at  the  head  of  the  System  of 

Life,  60,  79. 
—Origin,  progress  and  forms  of  Vegeta- 
ble Life  from  the  earliest  Geological 
Times  to  the  present,  63. 
—The  progress,  step  by  step,  of  animal 
life   from    the    very   lowest   forme, 
through  all  the  ages  to  man,  70. 
—The  law  governing  the  introduction 
of  living  things,  59,  64,  76. 
I'Oess,  The  European  neme  of  a  deep 
fertile  deposit  produced  by  the  grind- 
ing flow  of  ice,  as  along  the  Missouri 
River,  53. 


I.OKan.  an  Indian  Chief  of  the  Mingoes 
in  Ohio,  204,  239. 

Logan,  Col.  An  early  Eentucky  pioneer. 

His  defense  of  his  Blockhouse,  226. 
"  I.onB   Knives,"   A  name  given  by 

the  Indians  to  pioneer   Eentuckians, 

326. 
London,  Fort.  Among  the  Cherokees 

built  m  1756,  destroyed  in  1758,  195, 

208. 

Lonisiana,  Named  by  LaSalle  in  1682, 
180. 
—Upper  Louisiana,  182,  229. 
—Settled  by  D'Iberville  in  1669,  181, 
—French  settlers  in  Louisiana,  342,  346. 
—Acquired  by  the  Government  of  the 

D.  S.,  241,  244,  295,  299,  301,  497. 
—Its  organization  as  a  Territory  and 

State,  295. 
— Its  Constitution  and    Amendments, 

296. 
—Increase  of  population,  242,  244,  245, 
255,  256,  262. 
Lungs,  Why  the  air  was  unfit  for  air- 
breathing  animals  before  the  Great 
Coal  Age,  76. 

Lower  Canada,  the  French  Province, 
now  Quebec,  see  Canada,  680,  684,  689. 

Langnagre  as  a  guide  to  the  early  ex- 
periences of  nations  and  races,  164. 

Land,  The  value  of  all    the  lands    in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  749. 
—Personal  Interest  in  America  tends 
to  discourage  land  monopoly,  453,  613. 
— Land  laws  in  France,  452. 

Los    Angeles,    A    plain   and   city   of 
Southern  California,  604,  611. 

Lonlsvllle,  Ey.    Its    settlement,   224, 
228,  377,  380,  448,  662. 

Lower    Mississippi-See  Mississippi 
VaUey. 


774 


INDEX. 


nfaln  Ri^lsje,    Main  Divide  of  Rocky 
Mts.,  592,  597.     (See  Great  Divide.) 
-In  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  705. 

Maize,  or  Indian  Corn  among  the  Mound 
Builders,  125,  140,  144, 
—Cultivated  by  the  Indians,  149,  152, 

165. 
—Its  production  in  1875  in  the  U.  S.and 
and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  445,  449. 

BfcCJi^ll^in,  Gen.,  an  ofificer  of  the  Fed- 
eral army  in  the  Civil  War,  379. 

BIcOillivrny,    Oen.,     Chief    of    the 
Creeks,  235. 

nclntoMh,  a  Fort  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Miami,  232. 

naokenzie  River,  Canada,  705. 

Blacfeiiin  vr.    Mich. ,     settled     by     the 
French,  180. 
—Captured  by  British  and  Indians  in 
1812,  212.  677. 

Sffan  is  the  ideal  Animal,  58,  70,  71. 

— His  hifiher  faculties  intimate  that  he 
is  the  end  and  purpose  of  the  system 
of  nature,  60. 

—The  mysterious  and  suegestive  rela- 
tions of  man  to  the  lower  animal 
world,  60,  71. 

—The  first  traces  of  man  in  America 
and  Europe,  112,  724. 

—The  suggestion  that  bis  first  appear- 
ance was  in  Canada,  697,  698. 

— He  was  first  a  savage  and  progressed 
slowly  toward  civilization,  113,  724. 
Uanitoba   made   a    Province    of    the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  690. 

—Its  situation  and  natural  resources, 
701,  715,  718,  722. 
flianufactares  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley promoted  by  natural    resources 
and  waterways,  98. 

—Compared  with  agriculture,  99,  456, 
483. 

— Traces  of  these  industries  by  Mound 

Builders,  142,  144. 


—Early  manufactures  on  the  Atlantic 
Slope,  648. 

—The  progress  of  manufactures  near 
the  Ohio  up  to  18G0,  362,  365. 

—Facts  and  statistics  of  manufac- 
tures in  U.  S.  and  Mississippi  Valley 
to  1870,  428. 

—Growth  and  transfer  of  manufactures, 
483. 

—These  industries  and  their  progress 

in  England,  736,  738. 
MaricopaN,  Agricultural    Indians    of 

Arizona,  559. 
Marietta,  Ohio,  The  first  New  England 

settlement  in   the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, 234,  235. 
Martin's   Block-house,    near    Licking 

River,  Ky.,  228. 
Maryland,  The  character  of  the  sur- 
face and  soil,  659,  660. 
Massachusetts    organizes     the    first 

settlement  of  Ohio,  233. 
—Its  people  represent   an   important 

element  in  American  character,  334, 

502.  642. 
—Its  expenditures  for  schools  in  1860 

and  1870,  475. 
—Its     manufactures    compared    with 

western  States,  4^*3,  658. 
Mason  and  Dixon'H  Line*  Boundary 

between  free  and  slave  States,  291, 

308,  496. 
Manbila,  An  Indian  town  in  Alabama 

where  De  Soto  was  attacked,  172,  214. 
Maumee  River,  Gen.  Wayne  defeats 

the  Indians  there  in  1794,  207,  236. 
Maysville,  Ky.  A  crop  of  corn  raised 

in  1775,  224. 
— Indian  depredations,  235. 
Mempliis,  Tennessee,  De  Soto  crossed 

the  Mississippi  near  it,  173. 
—That  city  as  a  railroad  point  during 

the  Civil  War,  377. 


mk 


INDEX. 


775 


JHesozolc  means  middle  forms  of  life, 
i.  e.,  between  the  ancient  and  the 
recent— The  rocks  containing  the  re- 
mains ot  such  animals  and  plants  are 
called  Mbsozoig  Bocks,  and  the  time 
■when  they  were  made,  Mesozoic 
Time  or  Mesozoic  Period,  43,  45. 

—What  rocks  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
were  made  in  Mesozoic  Time,  45. 

— Why  the  animals  and  plants  of  this 
period  were  different  from  those  that 
preceded,  66. 

— Plants  and  animals  most  abundant 
in  the  "Middle  Period,"  68,  75,  77. 

— What  part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
was  raised  and  ceased  to  make  new 
rock  near  the  beginning  of  the  Meso- 
zoic, 45, 100. 
Hexlco,  The  effect  of  its  elevations  on 
the  Climate  of  Mississippi  Valley,  87, 
103. 

—The  resemblance  of  its  Toltec  monu- 
ments to  those  of  Mound  Builders, 
127, 138, 145. 

—The  traditions  of  Mexican  Tolteoa 
and  Aztecs,  149, 153,  662. 

— The  Natchez  Indians  probably  a  Mex- 
ican race,  131.  163. 

— The  Spanish  conquest  of  Mexico,  167, 
169,  558,  560. 

—The  relations  of  the  United  States  to 
Mexico,  530. 

— The  Mexican  Republic  and  its  people, 
626. 

Miami  River,  Ohio,  Works  of  Mound 
Builders  on  it,  120. 
—Its  mouth  a  boundary  of  Ohio,  280. 
— British  trading  post  on  it  about  1750, 

189. 
—Indians  invaded  by  pioneers,  207,  229, 
231. 
Kicliigaii,  Its  mineral  wealth,  90,  94, 
496. 


— The  Lake,  Early    visits  to  it  by  the 
French,  178,  180. 
—Education  in  1837,  357. 
— The  increase  of  the  State  in  Popula- 
tion, 242,  255,  256,  202. 
— Contest  over  boundaries  of  the  pro- 
posed State,  304. 
—The  Constitutions  of  1835  and  1850, 305. 
Bflms,  Fort,  Dreadful  massacre   there 

by  the  Creeks,  214. 
IIlng:oe!i,  Indians  of  Ohio,  201, 204,  239. 
Hlnlng,  Statistics,  425,  427,  580. 
—On  the  Pacific  Slope,  484,  580,  689. 
—Quartz  mining,  580,  621. 
—Placer  mining,  58U,  588,  601,  620. 
—Various  mining  regions,  624. 
— Its  products  in  Canada,  709. 
— Mineral  resources  of  Great  Britain, 
723,  737,  738,  749. 
Hlnnesota,   Its  geological  history,  38, 
45,  100,  103,  701. 
— Its  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  Great 

Valley,  83,  97,  466. 
-Early    explorations     in    it    by    the 

French,  180. 
—Progress  of  American  Settlement,  260, 

262,  306. 
— Its  Constitutional  history,  306. 
—Its  agricultural  production,  449. 
Miocene    means  less  recent,  1.  e.,  the 
forms  of  animals  and  plants  in  these 
rocks  were  less  recent  than  those  of 
the  Pliocene,  48,  545. 
Mississippi  Blver  and  its  branches, 
83,97. 
—Discovery  and   exploration    of    the 

Biver,  173,  177,  180. 
—Progress    of    transportation   on    the 
rivers,  246,  250,  457. 
Mississippi     Valley,    Its    geological 
formation,  32,  38,  45,  50. 
— Its  area  and  surface  features,  81. 
— Its  Mineral  resources,  89. 


776 


INDEX. 


Mississippi  Talley  [continned]. 
—Its  agricultural  capacities,  97. 
—Its  industrial  and  political  relations, 
489,  495. 

— Its  direct  foreign  commerce  in  the 
future,  464. 

Mississippi,  The  State,  Its  early  set- 
tlement, 223,  237,  244. 

— Its  Constitutional  history,  296,  403. 

—The  State  in  the  Civil  War,  378,  380. 

—Cotton  is  its  staple  product,  449. 

—Its  growth  in  population,  242, 242, 255, 
250. 

Missouri  River,  82,  578,  585. 
Hissonri,  The  State  in  geological  times, 
38,  45,  47,  53. 

—Its  mineral  resources,  91,  94. 

— Sources  of  agricultural  wealth,  101. 

—Early  man  left  traces  in  it,  113, 122. 

—Growth  of  population,  229,  242,  244, 
255,  256,  262. 

— Kailroad  beginnings  in  it,  258,  260. 

— Constitutional  history,  299. 

—The  Civil  War  in  this  State,  376,  384, 
403. 

—Industrial  progress  in  the  New  Era, 

425,  431,  435,  436,  449. 
"  Mistress  of  the  SeHS,"  England  has 

been  so  called,  94,  253,  673,  734. 
.Uobile,  Ala.,  181,  223,  377,  384. 
Mobilians,  Indian  tribes  near  the  Gulf 

coast,  156,  103. 
Mojave,  Fort,  on  the  Colorado  River  in 

Arizona,  6U5. 
Mollusks,  A  class  of  animals  without 

an  internal  skeleton  or  back  bone, 

— invertebrates,  72 

Monroe,  President  of  the  United  States, 

528. 

**  Monroe  Doctrine,"  that  "America 
belongs  to  Americans,"  528. 

Montana,  Its  condition  during  the  first 
part  of  Becent  Time,  before  the  Rocky 
Mountains  were  raised,  49,  67,  78. 


— Its  situation  and  surface,  577. 
— Its  minerals  and  soil,  580. 
—Its  Indian  races  in  early  times,  681. 
—The  great  future  awaiting  it,  583,  586, 
688,  589. 
Montezama,  the  ruler  of  Mexico  when 

invaded  by  Cortez,  146. 
Montgomery,  Alabama,  in  the  Civil 

War,  375.  377. 
Montreal,  The  largest  city  in  Canada, 
112,  679,  682,  702. 

Horavians,  Their  Mission  In  Ohio  de- 
stroyed, 230. 
mormons  of  Otah,  Their  successful  Ag- 
riculture, 587,  592,  617. 
Moors,  Moorish,  Saracens  in  Spain,  167, 

628. 
Moqnis,  a  semi-civilized  tribe  of  Indians 

in  New  Mexico,  558,  5G-2,  567. 
Motlter  Country  (England  in  relation 

to  her  Colonies),  94,  646,  G93,  7ii2. 

Mounds  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  their 

number,  115. 

— The  Various  classes  of  the  Mounds,  118. 

Mound  Builders,  Their  cumbers.  138. 

— Their  character  as  inferred  from  their 

works.  116,  134,  146. 
—The  quality  of  their  civilization,   121, 

141,  143.  146,  152 
—Their  skill  In  certain  arts,  141,  143. 
—Their  institutions,  135,  137, 141,  145,  147. 
—Their  probable  origin,  115,  149,  567. 
—What  became  of  them,  149,  151. 
Mountains,  How  they  were  raised,  36, 
543. 
— The  first  mountains  were  low,  38,  700, 

702. 
— The  three  Mountain-making  Periods,  38, 

544,  700. 
—The  Alleghanles  are  the  oldest  large 

mountains.  38,  78. 
— The  Rocky  Mountains  are  the  youngest 
of  all,  38,  544. 


INDEX. 


777 


Mountains  [contiDued]. 
— Tbeir  comparative  apes,  544. 
— The  raising  was  very  slow  and  ^adual, 

44,  543. 
— The  effect  of  Mountains  on  climate,  46, 

07,  76,  85,  700. 
—The  effect  of  heat  developed  in  raising 
mountains  in  gathering  precious  metals, 
improving  coal  and  the  soil,  47,  95,  546, 
614,  644. 
Mnskingnm  River,  Ohio,  330,  234,  284. 
Hnscogee.    (See  Creeks.) 
BiarTaez,  Pamphllo  de,   a  Spanish  com- 
mander who  visited  Florida  in  1528,  170- 
ntatehez  Indians  of  Mississippi,  131,  163, 

192. 
Nebraska,  Some  of  its  geological  fea- 
tures, 49,  101.     (See  "  Plains.") 
— Ita  organization  as  a  Territory,  308. 
—Its  Sta'te  Constitution,  309. 
— Population  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  in 

1860,  262. 
-Effect  of  Pacific  Railroad  on  it,  418. 
Nebnlse,  Believed  to  be  an  early  stage  of 

Planetary  Systems,  36,  41. 
Negro  Slavery  introduced  in  the  Sontb 

by  French  and  English,  223. 
Nevada,  The  State,  590,  592,  594,  605. 
Neivark,    Ohio,    Works   of  the    Mound 

Builders  there,  121. 
Kevr  Brunswick,  A  Province  of  Can- 
ada, 681,  687,  704. 
New  England,  It  is  geologically  old,  38, 
643. 
— The  character  of  the  people  who  settled 

it,  334,  338,  645. 
— Ite  industries,  present  and  future,  502, 

659,  662. 
—Its  population  in  1760,  346. 
—The  New  Englander  in  the  West,  332. 
— Canada  is  a  true  New  England,  692. 
New  Franoe,  The  early  French  posses- 
sions in  America  were  so  called,  179. 


New  Jersey,  Its  surface  and  people,  223, 

645,  659. 
New  Mexico,  Its  geological  structure. 
652,  585. 
— Its  early  conquest  by  the  Spaniards,  558, 

568. 
— Ita  resources,  686,  588,  615.  623. 
New  Orleans,  113.  193,  213,  245,  251,  466. 
Newspapers  in  the  West  compared  with 

the  O.  S.,  360,  472. 
Neiv  York,  Ita  early  inhabitants,  about 
the  Lakes,  160,  178,  198,  655. 
—The  Surface  and  resources  of  the  State, 

656. 
— Its  industrial  development,  483.  657. 
—City  is  the  great  Metropolis  of  finance, 
commerce  and  Industry,  658,  668. 
Niagara,  How  La  Salle  commence<l  com- 
merce above  it,  180. 
New  World.  Its  significance  in  historj, 

78, 186,  263,  321,  515,  528,  663. 
Normal  Schools,  East  and  West,  477. 
Normans,  A  Teutonic,  or  German  race 
from  the  North  of  Europe,  who  con- 
quered part  of  France  and  all  England, 
323,  727,  729. 
North  America,  It  is  unified  by  the  in- 
fluence of  ita  great  central  valley,  530. 
— It  was  probably  joined  to  Asia  and  Eu- 
rope at  some  Geological  Periods,  51,  78, 
698. 
-  Its  prehistoric  civilization  probably  from 

the  South,  115,  140,  149,  667. 
— The  world-wide  influence  of  its  great 
and  rich  Republic  "  between  two  seas" 
with  three  mutually  supporting  sections, 
486,  663. 
North  Carolina,  Emigrants  from  it  to 
the  West,  224,  320. 
—This  State  and  the  settlers  in  Tennessee, 

232,  234,  268. 
—Ita  surface,  soil  and  future,  660,  662. 
Northwest  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  97, 
241,  260.  335,437. 


778 


INDEX. 


Korthwest  Territory,  How    its  re- 
markable soil  was  produced,  101. 
—Its  organization,  233,  241,  274,  284. 
— Its  rapid  growth  in  population,  322,  333. 
Northwest  of  the  U.  S.  on  the  Pacific, 

54S,  598.  600,  630. 
Northwest    Territories  of  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada.  691.  701,  705. 
Nova  Scotia,  A  Province  of  Confeder- 
ated Canada,  681,  687,  704. 
Obsidian,  A  very  hard  roclc  breaking  with 

a  sharp  edge,  144. 
Oglethorpe,  Gen.,  Founder  of  the  Col- 
ony of  Georgia,  192. 
Old   Bay  State,  Massachusetts  is    so 

called,  642. 
Old    Dominion,  Virginia  is  so  called, 

321,642. 
Old  North  State,  North  Carolina  is  so 

called,  321. 
Old   World,  The  Eastern   Continent  is 
often  so  called,  78,  U4,  167,  648. 
— North  America  lies    between    its    two 
extremes,  672. 
Olympiad,  The  Greek  measure  of  time- 
four  years,  150. 
Onondago  Castle,  N.  Y ,  The  Capital 

of  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  200. 
Ontario,  Formerly  Upper  Canada.     Its 
settlement,  681. 
—Its  political  history,  681. 
— Its  surface  and  resources,  681,  702. 
—Basin,  656,  702,  709. 
Ohio  Basin  in  Geological  times,  45, 47,  51, 
82,  ino. 
—Its  rainfall  and  climate,  87,  103. 
— Its  connections  with  other  regions  and 

its  resources,  97,  101. 
— It  was  a  favorite  seat  of  the  Mound 

Builders,  118,  138. 
— The  origin  of  the  name,  152,  165. 
— English  and  French  contest  in  it,  187, 
189. 


—English  and  Indian  strucgle  for  it,  198. 

201. 
— Anglo-American  contest  with    the  In- 
dians, 204,  225. 
—The  Territory  and  State,  Settlement  and 

population,  233.  242,  245,  251,  255,  261. 
—The  State  Constitution,  284,  294. 
— The  early  and  rapid  progress  of  Ohio, 

331.  362. 
— Character  of  the    settlers.    (See   New 

England  in  tht'  West.) 
—Industries  after  the  Civil  War,  431,  483. 
— The  exports  of  Ohio  by  water,  459. 
— Progress  of  education  in  Ohio,  355,  357, 
475,  480. 
Ordinance  of  1787,  274,  284. 
Orinoco  River  in  South  America,  98, 

109,  467. 
Orleans  Territory,  Louisiana  was  so 

called,  295. 
Osage  River,  Mo.,  Traces  of  Primitive 

Man,  113. 
Oswego,  N.   Y.    Sir  Wm.  Johnson  con- 
cluded an  Indian  Treaty  In  1766, 199. 
Oxford,  the  English  University,  354. 
Oregon,   Its  commercial   facilities,  548, 
550,  600. 
—Its  surface  features  and  reBources*  &9S, 

699,  630. 
— Its  settlement  and  special  advantages, 

629. 
—The  future  of  western  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington, 640. 
Pacific  Coast,  Its  mountains  are  propor- 
tioned to  its  vast  ocean,  37. 
— When    it   was    outlined    by    elevating 

forces,  38. 
— The  character  of  the  surface  bordering 

the  ocean.  549,  598. 
— The  value  of  precious  metals  obtained 
to  1876,  424,  485. 
Pacific  Slope,  its  extent  and  general 
formation,  543,  547,  576. 


INDEX. 


779 


Paciflc  Slopo  [continaed]. 

— It3  three  ereat  divisions,  576.  590.  595. 
—The  origin  of  its  great  and  various  re- 
sources. 547,  614,  707. 
— Its  influence  on  the  country  and    the 

World.  260.  620.  631.  663. 
— The  water  supply  for  agriculture  on  the 

Slope.  G14to  618. 
—It  is  difficult  to  say  which   locality  is 
richest  in  promise,  624,625. 

The  settlement  of  the  Slope  shows  the 

high  quality  of  Anglo-American   civil- 
ieation,  632,  635.  650. 
—The  future  of  the  Paciflc  Slope,  639,  663. 
Pacific  Ocean,  its  commerce  win  exceed 
that  of  the  Atlantic,  486,  600,  663,  717. 
—As  a  highway,  635. 
—Its  Japan  or  Asiatic  warm  ocean  current, 

550,  579,  507. 
—The  great  value  of  its  flsheries,  600.  710. 
Pacific    Railway,  The    Central.      Ita 
construction  and  value,  418,  636. 
—The  Northern,  From  Duluth  to  Puget 

Sound,  586,  597,  600.  619. 
—The  Southern,  From  the  Paciflc  Coast 

to  the  Rio  Grande,  556.  561,  619. 
—The  Canada,  715.  716. 
Paducah.  Kentucky.  Its  importaoce  in  the 

Civil  War,  377. 
Palieozoic,  The  term  means  ancient  life. 
It  refers  to  the  old  forms  of  life  from  the 
first  known  to  some  time  after  the  Great 
Coal  Age  and  raising  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  which  led  to  great  changes 
in  the  higher  classes  of  animals   and 
plants.  43. 
—Time,  or  Period.  In  which  the  Life  Force 
or  vital  energy  produced  the  first,  and, 
for  the  most  part,  simple  forms,  44,  63. 
65. 
—The  rock  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  made 
in  this  Period,  45. 


— Number  of  species  of  animals  from  Pal- 
aeozoic rocks.  56,  72. 
—The  highest  Palaeozoic  animals  were  im- 
perfect in  structure,  75. 
—Length  of  Palaeozoic  Time.  100,  544. 
—The  climate  of  Pakeozoic  or   Ancient 

Time,  65.  696. 
— This  Period  preceded  and  followed  by 

mountain-making,  38,  45,  700. 
—The    mineral    products    of     Palaeozoic 
rocks,  91. 
Palcnquc,  A   primitive  city  in   Central 

America,  127. 
Palestine,  Human    Sacrifices   there   in 

early  times.  148. 
Pampas,     or    Llanos,    Grassy     treeless 

plains  of  South  America,  86,  109. 
Panama  Ship  i'anal,  98,  463.  490,  587. 
Parks  of  Colorado.     High  basins  in  the 
Mountains.  577,  586. 
—National,  of  the  Yellowstone  of  Montana 
and  Wyoming,  578,  596. 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  683.  729. 
732,  747. 
—Of  Canada,  683,  687. 
Parliamentary  Oovernment,  685. 

689. 

Prince  Edward's  Island  m  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence  and  a  Province  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  691. 
Peace  River  and  Valley  in  British  Amer- 
ica, 701,  705,  722. 
Pennsylvania,    Its   situation    and  re- 
sources, 97,  425,  656,  659. 
—Its  coal.  426,  644,  649. 
—Its  Industries,  362,  483,  658. 
—  Its  settlement  west  of  the  mouniains, 

201,  204,  223. 
—The  emigrants  from  it  to  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  209,  320,  333. 
Pensacola,  Florida,  Its  Bay  and  De  Soto. 
173. 
—The  early  growth  of  the  town,  223. 


780 


INDEX 


Penuian,  A  aeries  of  rock  following  the 

Age  of  Coal,  67. 
Persians  worshipped  the  Sun,  139,  146, 

161. 
Peru  and  Peruvians,  113, 130, 134, 139, 

142,  146,  148,  156,  167,  667. 
Petersburg,  Va.,  in  the  CiTtl  Wars.  176. 
Philadelphia,  the  chief  city  of  Penn., 

343,  259,  669. 
Phenogams,   The  highest  division   of 

plants,  64,  66,  68. 
Phoenicians,  Their  worship,  146. 
Pigmies  supposed  to  have   been  foand 

in  Illinois,  135. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  or  Puritans  of  New 

England,  333,  354. 
Piniat  Indians  in  Arizona,  569. 
Pioneers,  Spirit  of  the  French  pioneers  in 
America,  176,  677. 
—The  English  or  Anglo-American  pioneers 
on  the  Atlantic  Slope,  641,  645. 

—Anglo-Americans  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, 184,  226,  239. 

—Of  the  Paclflo  Slope,  635. 

Pipe  or  Peace  of  the  Indians,  178,  198. 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.     Its  early  history  and 
prosperity,  189,  197,  223,  252,  362,  433. 

Pizarro,  The  Spanish  conqueror  of  Peru, 
171,  173,  266,  620. 

Phillip,  of  Ml.  Hope,  An  able  Indian  chief 
of  New  England,  169,  209. 

Plains,  The  grassy  treeless  prairies  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  82,  84,  87,  102, 
649,  679. 
—They  were  the  favorite  home  of  the  In- 
dian and  Buffalo,  581,  584,  706. 
—Settlement    increases    the    rainfall    on 

theui,  617. 
—They  are  continued  into  British  Amer- 
ica, 706. 

Plateaus,  The  level  tops  of  Mountains 
when  of  great  extent— Table-lands,  643, 
S76. 


—How  they  were  produced,  546. 
—Or  '•  Mesas  "  of  Arizona,  662,  665. 
—The  Colorado  Plateau,  554,  558,  573,  685. 
—The  Rooky  Mountain  Plateau  was  the 

original  home  of  the  Indians,  153,  163. 
—The  valley  plateau  of  Utah  and  Idaho, 

593. 

—The  plateau  of  British  Columbia,  705, 
707. 

—The  Laurentian  plateau  of  Quebec,  702. 

—New  Brunswick  is  a  lowplateau,  704. 
Pliocene,  means  more  recent.  It  is  the 
latest,  or  third  division,  of  the  Tertiary 
and  the  last  true  rock-making  era,  48, 
545. 
Policy  of  Europea'j  Governments  toward 
their  American  Colonies,  365,  "33. 

—British  Indian  policy,  193,  202. 

— Unwise    policy    of    European   Govern- 
ments, 183,  514,  735. 

—Indian  policy  of  the  United  States,  217. 
—The  Indian  policy  of  the  future  in  the 
U.  S.,  220. 

—Constitutional  policy  in  the  West,  315  to 
319. 

Pontiac,  An  Indian  Chief  of  greatability, 
194. 

Portland,  Me.,  Terminus  of  a  Canadian 

Railroad,  715. 

—The  chief  city  of  Oregon,  597,  625. 

Portuguese   enterprise  and  failure,  27, 
110. 

Powell,  Major,  His  explorations  on  Col- 
orado plateau,  572. 

Prescott,  The  capital  of  Arizona,  662. 
673. 

Prairies,  How  they  were  formed,  62, 101- 
— Why  they  are  without  trees,  84. 
— DifBculties  of  settlement  on  them  over- 
come by  railroads,  268,  261,  336,  363 
Price,  Gen.,  a  Confederate  cEBcer  in  the 

Civil  War,  384. 
Protozoans,  The  lowest  class  of  animals 
71,  73. 


INDEX. 


781 


Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico  living  In 
towns  and  early  civilized,  562,  567,  572. 

Puget  Sound,    VVashlnston   Territory, 
598,  625. 

Pyramids  or  temple  mounds  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  122,  136. 
— These  compared  with    Egyptian  pyra- 
mids, 137,  146. 

l^uaternary  Period,  Extending  from 
the  Tertiary  to  the  present  time,  48,  50. 

Quartz.     (See  mining.)     A  rock  in  which 
gold  is  found,  622. 

Queen  of  England,  Her  relation  to  Can- 
ada, 683. 

Queen    Charlotte   Islands    on  the 
coast  of  British  Columbia,  598,  709, 

Quebec  The  capital  of  Lower  Canada, 

6T5,  702. 
Races  of  Men,  Civilization  has  been  car- 
ried forward  by  "select  races,  114,  131, 
134. 

—The  race  of  the  Mounds,  116, 132. 

—Indian  Races  of  the  United  States,  163, 
197,  219. 

—The  lost  race  of  Arizona,  564. 

—The  Teutonic  races,  132, 156,  196,  323, 
736,  730,  743. 

— Anglo-American    race,   345,  501,    504, 
642. 

—Celtic  race,  Celts  of  Great  Britain,  .323, 
724,  736. 
Radiates,  Animals  constrocted  on  the 

plan  of  a  flower,  71. 
RHilroHfIs,  Their  immense  effect  on  de- 
velopment, 257,  416  to  423. 

—Gold  mining  and  the  Railroad  Bra,  260, 
635. 

—Their  relition  to  the  War,  872,  377. 

—On  the  Pacific  slope,  619,  637. 

—In  Canada,  715,  719. 

—In  England,  737,  749. 


Rainfall,  How  its  distribution  is  con- 
trolled in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  86, 
103. 
—Table  of  annual  rainfall,  106. 
— How  it  may  be  increased,  107,591,617. 
—Amount  in  Arizona,  573. 
—The    small     quantity    in     the    Great 
Basins,  591,  603. 
Recent  Time,  Commencing  with   the 
appearance  of  five  per  cent,  of  existing 
species  of  animals  in  the  rocks,  78. 
Record   of    tbe   Rocks,    How   it  Is 

made,  34,  43,  73. 
Reptiles,  A    class    of   hack-boned  or 

vertebrate  animals,  72,  75. 
Republic,  Tbe  theory  of  the  American 
Republic,  510. 
—It  was  based  on  the  character  of  the 

people,  504, 647. 
— The  effect  of  its  success,  511,  515. 
—Its  manifest  future,  537. 
—The  Republic  of  France,i512. 
— England  is  a  virtual  Republic,  743. 
Rio  Grande  River,  In  New  Mexico, 

82,  55S,  585,  619. 
River  System  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, 83,  88, 91 ,  457, 466. 
—Systems  of  the  Pacific  Slope,  543. 
Rivers  of  Canada,  702,  718. 
Rocks.    How  science  studies  them,  28, 
30,31,33,  42. 
—Their  early  condition,  33,  35,  43,700. 
—How  rocks  were  "made"  or  stratified, 

44,  643. 
—How  they  were  raised  to  make  land  and 

mountains,  36,  543,  546. 
—The  Pateozoic  rocks,  43,  65,  66,  73,  75. 
—The  Mesozoic  rocks,  43,  67,  77. 
—The  Tertiary  or  Cenozoic  rocks,  43,  OT, 

78. 
—Azoic  rocks,  43,  60, 90,  700. 
Roman  Empire,  363,  501,725. 
-Gaul,  now  France,  334. 


782 


INDEX. 


Rosecrans^    Gen.,   A    Federal    officer 
in  the  Civil  War,  383. 

Russia  compared  with   the  MlBsiseippi 
Valley,  87,  107, 108. 

Sacrumeuto   River,    California,  602, 
607. 

St.  Antliony's  Falls,  Minn. .visited  by 
the  French,  180. 

St.  Clair.  Gen.,  Gov.  of  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory, 307,  233,  335,  294. 

St.  Doming^o,  A  Spanish  island  In  the 
West  Indies,  170, 192. 

St.  L.awrence   River,  178,  490,*702, 
710. 
—Valley,  112,  702,  682. 
—Gulf,  681 ,  686. 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  The  "Monnd  City,"  122, 
229,  434. 
—  Its  future  commerce,  436,  466,  490. 

St,  Peters  River,  Minnesota,  visited 
by  the  French,  181. 

Salt,  Era  of  greatest  deposit  in  beds,  92, 
615. 

Sail  Lake,  Great,  Utah,  590,  618. 

Salllus:,  John,  of  Va.    His  travels  in  the 
Miss.  Valley  in  1730,  187. 

Sau  Dieg^o,  A  Sea  port  of  Southern  Cal- 
ifornia, 589. 

San  Francisco,  603,  614,  622,  635. 
—Bay,  602,  608,  612. 

San  Joaquin  Valley,  602,  607. 

Savannah,  Georgia,  339,  385. 

Saskatcbewan  River,  in  Canada,  N. 
W.  Ter.,  702,  718. 

Science,  Its  great  usefulness  and  suc- 
cess, 39. 

"Sclenlific  Accuracy,"  29, 119,  635. 

Scotland,  Its  situation  and  area,  721, 
734. 

Scotch  in  America,  223,  339,  681,  718. 

Scott,  Gen.  Charles,  A  pioneer  of  the 
West,  235. 

Scioto  Biver  in  Ohio,  120, 125, 137, 146. 


Seminole  Tntlians,  of  Florida,  216. 
Seneca  Indians,  of  New  York.  198. 
Sevier,  Col.,  A  pioneer  of  Tennessee,  230. 
Sbasta,  Mt.,  in  Northern  California,  592, 

594,  602. 
Sbannees,  An  Indian  Tribe  north  of  the 

Ohio,  200,  210. 
Sbelby,  Col.,  A  pioneer  of  TenDeseee, 

228. 
Sbenandoata  Valley,  in  Virginia,  187, 

269,  380,  385. 
Sberman.Gen.,  A  distingaiahed  Federal 

officer,  333,  384. 
Sberidan ,  Gen.,  A  distinguished  Federal 

officer,  385. 
Sbilob,  A  battlefield  of  the  Civil  War,  378. 
Siberia,  Russia,  in  Asia,  87. 
Sierra,  Spanish,  for  a  range  of  mountain 

peaks,  584,  596. 
— Madre,  Summit  ridge  of  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, 576,  579. 
— Nevada,  Western  range  of  Rocky  Motin- 

tains,  545,  576,  592,  608. 
Sioux,  Indians  of  the  Missouri  Valley, 

163, 165,  582. 
Simcoe,  Gov.  of  Upper  Canada,  In  1794, 

286. 
Snake  River,  The  Southern  Branch  of 

the  Columbia,  592. 
Sonora,  Mexican  State,  on  the  Golf  of 

California,  560, 
Soutb  America,  86, 107,  115,  149. 
— Its  relations  with  North  America,  490, 

528. 
—Its  States,  661,741. 
Soutb  Carolina,  237,230,385,660. 
Spaniards  of  the  16th  Centnry,  167, 174. 

— Their  severity  in  America,  175,  185. 
Spanlsb  Settlements  in  the  United 

States,  174,  223, 199. 
—Explorations  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  558, 

559,  626. 
—Americans,  627. 


INDEX. 


783 


Spanisb  American  Eepnblice,  528. 
Spottswood,  Colonial  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, 187. 
Sqnier,  A  Student  of  American  Antiqui- 
ties, 567. 
Stephens,  A  writer  on  Central  America, 

145. 
Stock-raising:,  on  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Plateau.  574,  580.  686,  583. 
—In  the  Baeing  and  California,  595,  597, 
613. 
Talladega,  Site    of  a   battle  with   the 

Creeks  in  1813, 21 5. 
Tallapoosa   River,    Gen.    Jackaon'B 

last  battle  with  the  Creeks,  216. 
Tallasehatchie, Battle  with  the  Creeks 

215. 
Tartary,  Tartars,  in  Central  Asia,  551. 
Tecnniseb,  A  celebrated  Indian  Chief, 

209, 237,  243. 
Tennessee,  Some  of  its  geological  feat- 
ures, 45,  47, 8J,  92. 
—Its  natural  resources,  101, 425,  436. 
—English   Exploration  in    it,  187,  222, 

224. 
—Early  settlement,  222,  228. 
—Its  Indian  Wars,  195,  227,  230, 233. 
—The  growth  of  population,  235,  242,  245, 

256,  261. 
—River,  228,  339,  377. 
—The  organizing  instinct  of  its  pioneers, 

268,  272. 
—Territory  organized  under  the  "Ordi- 
nance" of  1787,  273. 
— Its    Constitution    as   a    State    in   the 
Union,  293. 
Terrace    Cpocb,The  period  in  which 
interrupted  elevation  of  the  land  pro- 
ducea  the  Terraces  along  the  rivers  and 
.anes,  50,  62,  101, .702. 
Tertiary,  the  first  part  of  Cenozoic  or 
Recent  Time,  (Tertiary  means   Third 


and  Quarternary  Fourth,  in  the  Latin), 

48, 102,  546. 
Time,  Length   of  the   chief  periods   of 

time,  644.    (See  Rocks.) 
Texas,  in  Mesozoic  Times,  45,  82,  84,  436. 
—Indian  tribes  in  this  region,  165. 
—La  Salle  in  Texas  ,181. 
—Its  fortunate  situation  for  agriculture, 

449. 
—Its  population  between  1850  and  18fiO 

256,261,497. 
—The  Republic  of  Texas  and  its  annex- 
ation to  the  United  States,  300. 
-Its  Constitution,  301. 
Tbanies    River     (Canada),    Battle    and 

death  of  Tecumseh,  213. 

Tippecanoe,  Harrison's  battle  with  thf; 

Prophet.  212. 
Tbonipsoii,  Sir  Willianj,  and  the  age  of 

the  Rocks,  544. 

Toltecs,  Toltec  Race,  Thought  to  be 
descendants  of   the  Mound  Builders, 
146,  149,  151,  566. 
-Their  civilization  and  culture,  564,  566. 

Teocallis,    Aztec   Mound  Temples    in 
Mexico,  127. 

Tezcnco,  The  Lake  on  which  Mexico 
City  was  built,  566. 

Trnman,  An    Indian   Agent  killed  by 
them  in  Ohio,  2:35. 

Transylvania   Company    in    Ken- 
tucky, 224. 

Transportation,  See  Railroads,  Com- 
merce. 

Vtab  Basin,  Its  structure,  590,  592. 
— Its  fertility  when  seeming  a  desert,  615. 

617. 
—Its  metallic  wealth  unbounded,  587, 5M2, 
623. 
Upper  Canada.    See  Ontario. 
Vanconver,  A  lar^e  Island  on  the  Pa- 
cific coast  of  British  Columbia,  598, 70S. 


784 


INDEX. 


Tandrenil,  de,     FrencU   Governor  of 

Louisiana,  193.* 
Vegetable  liiff^*  Its  wonderful   proper- 
ties. 55,  61. 
— It  is  part  of  the  general  System  of  Life, 

63,  69,  72. 
—The  Plan  of  Vegetable  Structures,  63. 
— Two  great  classes  of  plants,  64,  68. 
— They  were  gradually  introduced,  65  to 
68. 
Veg^etation  in  the  Great  Coal  Age,  45, 
65,  644,  696. 
—The  changes  that  followed  this  Age,  46, 
66. 
VIncennes,  An  early  settlement,  in  In- 
diana, 228. 
Vlrg^inia,  The  settlement  of  its  western 
part.  187. 
— The  activity  of  its  Government  in  plan- 
ning settlement  in  the  West,  188,  204, 
205. 
-Its  relation  to  Kentucky,  229,  231,  234, 

292. 
—The  character  of  the  people,  328,  334, 

502,  642. 
— Surface  and  soil  of  the  State,  669. 
Wabash  River,  A  Northern  branch  of 

the  Ohio,  137,  235,  237,  280. 
Wales,  Part  of  the  Island  of  Great  Britain, 

721. 
Walker,  Dr.  Thomas,  An  early  Explorer 

of  the  West,  187,  222. 
Wasblngton  Coanty,  Ky.    When  or- 
(janized,  235. 
— Tenn.    Organized,  231. 
Wasbingrton,  Oen.  Geo.,  Soldier  and 
Statesman.    His  connection  with  the 
West,  189, 195,  222. 
—His  character,  328,  334,  647. 
Washinp^ton  Territory,  Its  rivers, 
648,  591,  595,599. 
-Its  climate,  593,  599, 800. 
—Its  surface,  598. 


—Its   Agricultural  advantages,  599,  600, 

630. 
—Its  future,  624. 
Watauga  River  and  early  settlement, 

Tennessee,  223,  268. 
Wayne,  Gen.  Anthony,  Closes  old  Indian 

Wars  in  Ohio,  207,  235. 
Wenlth  of  Canada,  in  property,  712,  719. 
—Of  England,  in  property,  744,  749. 
—Of  United  States,  1790  to  1870,  75d. 
West,    See  Mississippi  Valley  and  Pa- 
cific Slope. 
—Indies,  98,  223,  490,  537,  661,  734,  741. 
West  Florida,  Gulf  coast,  formerly  so 

called,  223,  267. 
West  Virginia,  Early  Settlement,  129, 
223,  225,  320. 
— Its  minerals,  425. 
-In  the  Civil  War,  375. 
—Its  organization  and  Constitution,  3H). 
Wild  Hunter,  See  Indians. 
William  III,  King  of  England,  187. 
Williams,  Thomas,  A  pioneer  of  Ken- 
tucky, 224. 
Wilkinson,     Col.,    A    pioneer    of  the 

West,  223,  235. 
Wisconsin,  Its  peculiar  mounds,  12H. 
—Its  surface,  701. 
—Early  French  settlement,  177. 
— Its  productions,  449. 
—Its  manufactures  in  1870,  433. 
—Progress  of  Population,  255,  356,  261, 

305. 
—Its  railways  in  1860,  260. 
—Its  Constitution,  305. 
Wyoming  Territory,  Its  coal,  94. 

—Its  surface,  581,  585. 
Tnma,  Fort,  on  the  Colorado  River,  5fll, 

563. 619. 
Zoology,  The  science  of  Animals,  30 ,(». 
Zanis,  Agricultural  Indians  of  New  Mex- 
ico, 562,  566,  568,  572. 


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